Army announces details
Who is the killed POW from the video?
03/07/2023 2:58 p.m
The video of the alleged murder of a Ukrainian soldier causes horror. Shortly after the clip circulated, the alleged victim’s brigade got in touch with details of his identity. He could become one of the next symbols of the brutal war.
A disturbing video is currently causing a stir on social media. The short clip shows a man standing in a small ditch in a stretch of forest and smoking a cigarette. With the camera trained on him, the Ukrainian soldier blows out smoke and says the words “Slava Ukraini,” which means “Glory to Ukraine.” Shortly thereafter, fire is immediately opened on him. The Ukrainian army has now released more details about the man’s possible identity.
Like the 30th Mechanized Brigade shared on Facebook, the dead person could be a fighter from the unit. His name: Timofiy Mykolajovich Shadura. He has reportedly been missing since February 3 this year after fighting in the Bakhmut area. “Currently, the body of our soldier is temporarily in the occupied territory. The final confirmation on the person will be made after the body has been returned and the relevant checks have been carried out,” the brigade writes in its post and offers its condolences to the family. The post concludes with the words “Revenge will be inevitable”. According to the medium “Ukraine Front Lines”, the soldier was 41 years old.
Another symbol of Russian aggression
The authenticity of the video has yet to be confirmed. In social networks, however, there is already a huge sympathy because of the cruel recordings. The presumed dead is often referred to as a hero. “When I read about the fact that this man was killed, it was like a relative of mine had been killed,” it says, for example. President of Ukraine Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram: “Today a video surfaced showing the occupiers brutally killing a soldier who bravely said to them: ‘Glory to Ukraine!’ I want us all to react together and united to his words: ‘Glory to the hero! Glory to the heroes! Glory to Ukraine!’ And we will find the killers.”
The French publicist Bernard-Henri Lévy drew a comparison to Robert Capa’s photo “Loyalist Soldier at the Moment of Death” from the Spanish Civil War based on the shots of the soldier. The recording from September 1936 shows a falling Republican soldier, but is said to be staged.
Ukrainian Timofiy Mykolajovich Shadura could now become a memorable example of Russian war crimes and a symbol of the cruelty of aggressive war, much like Marine Roman Hrybow did at the start of the invasion. This became known a few days after the start of the war at the end of February through an incident involving a Russian warship. The crew of the ship then asked the garrison of the Ukrainian Snake Island to lay down their arms. To which Roman Hrybow replied: “Russian warship, fuck off!” The almost 32-year-old then became a folk hero in Ukraine. Among other things, a postage stamp was circulated on which a Ukrainian soldier gave a Russian warship the “stinky finger”.