Ukraine vows revenge for POW killing in viral footage

KYIV — Ukraine vowed on Tuesday to take revenge against Russia, holding the Kremlin responsible for a captured soldier being riddled with bullets in a viral video after speaking a pro-Ukrainian slogan.

The footage apparently shows a detained Ukrainian combatant standing in a shallow trench, smoking, and being shot to death from multiple automatic weapons after saying "Glory to Ukraine."

Officials in Kyiv have blamed Russian forces and called for the International Criminal Court to probe the incident, which AFP could not independently verify.

The killed man's last words were trending online in Ukraine this week and the footage has spawned a new war-time meme in Ukraine celebrating the armed forces.

Many Ukrainians and social media users, who support Kyiv against Russia's invasion, posted a picture of the killed man online.

"The deceased is a serviceman of the 30th separate mechanized brigade—Tymofiy Mykolayovych Shadura," the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday, citing initial findings.

Shadura has been missing since February 3 amid fighting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and his identity would be confirmed when his remains were returned, the military added.

"Revenge for our hero's killing is inevitable," it added.

Brigade spokesman Anatoliy Yavorsky said Shadura hailed from the western region of Zhytomyr and was mobilized in December.

Kyiv has said his remains were still in territory held by Russian forces.

Another soldier?

Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov, however, identified the deceased man as 42-year-old Oleksandr Matsiyevsky from the northern city of Nizhyn.

Butusov posted a picture on Facebook of Matsiyevsky, who bore a resemblance to the Ukrainian soldier from the viral video.

The prominent reporter said Matsiyevsky, who had a 19-year-old son, went to the front voluntarily. He was buried in Nizhyn last month, he added.

AFP could not independently determine the origins of the footage or whether it showed a Ukrainian serviceman.

The head of the Wagner mercenary group, which has spearheaded Russia's assault on Bakhmut, said there was no evidence to link his fighters to the killing.

But Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said that if details emerged linking his group to the incident, then "we will certainly look into it in detail."

In an address to the nation on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the video showed Russian forces "brutally killing" a Ukrainian serviceman.

"We will find the murderers," he vowed.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called for the International Criminal Court to probe the footage.

Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of killing prisoners in the year since Russia invaded Ukraine. — Agence France-Presse