One of the superiors of the Ukrainian soldier who was assassinated at point-blank range after having proclaimed “Glory to Ukraine” recounts the last hours before his disappearance. A week after the massive broadcast of this video, which has gone viral, the man has now been identified. His name was Oleksandr Matsiyevski.
The video of the execution of this Ukrainian soldier by Russian troops, posted on the internet, has become a new symbol of the alleged war crimes committed in the country. After taking the time, finding different witnesses, here is the story of the last hours of the new hero of Ukraine. The special correspondents of Radio France in Ukraine, Thibault Lefèvre and Eric Audra, helped by Yachar Fazylov, collected the testimony of a soldier who fought alongside him.
Andrïï Homoliako, m Obilized since the beginning of the war, is a staff sergeant in the 163 e defense battalion Ukrainian territorial nse. On December 29, he is sent to the front of the city of Soledar, in the Donbass. I The next day, he is in combat, in a trench, alongside Oleksandr Matsiyevski. A few hours later, the latter is captured by the Russians. “ We were preparing trenches. Two hours later, the Russians attacked on the left flank, where we had 20 soldiers, including Oleksandr Matsiyevski’s section, says Andrïï Homoliako. His mission with four comrades was to hold the left flank of this trench, where Wagner’s soldiers attacked. Their objective was to get as close as possible and throw the grenades massively. Where Oleksandr was, they came closer to a distance of 20 or 30 meters. They threw their grenades. After 20 minutes of intense fighting, one of the five guys called for help, his legs were mutilated. We moved towards them under the fire of the automatic weapons and the permanent explosions of shells. We didn’t succeed so we withdrew, and that’s when we noticed the absence of five soldiers.”
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“His face was riddled with bullets”
On January 8, the battalion left the Soledar front. Three weeks later, during an exchange of about fifty bodies of soldiers with the Russians, the corpse of Oleksandr Matsiyevsky returned to the Ukrainian army. He is then identified by his family, then buried in mid-February in the cemetery of Nidjine, north of Kyiv.
“ During the ceremony, I was next to his mother. We talked a lot, she told me about her son, says Andrïï Homoliako again. I asked her in what state she had seen her son’s body. She told me she recognized his body but his face was riddled with bullets, so mutilated that only half of his skull remained. But she recognized him by the size of his limbs, his build, his moles and his scars.” This information is confirmed by Oleksandr Matsiyevski’s mother, who preferred to decline our request for an interview, and by the commander of the soldier’s unit: ten days before his disappearance, he had offered him a crest which he recognized. on the video.
“Of course the video of this tragedy will still be one of the symbols of Ukraine’s invincibility! It is an example of courage and heroism.”
Oleksandr Kodola, Mayor of Nijineat franceinfo
The mayor of Nidjine, the city where the soldier lived, also has no doubts even though he specifies “ wait for the results of the official investigation and the expertise in order to have definitive confirmation of the identity of the hero. We are awaiting the official position of the Ukrainian army general staff.” Oleksandr Kodola already intends to celebrate the local martyr: “Q When we have the official confirmation, I am sure that Alexander will posthumously receive the prestigious status of Hero of Ukraine. Then, we will initiate the construction of a monument in his memory and rename one of the streets of the city in his honor.