The day before, the Russians distributed a video on the network, on which the bodies of military personnel were visible. Relatives recognized some of them — they are Ukrainian fighters who were not evacuated from the "Zenit" position in Avdiivka.
Relatives of the three defenders told Slidstva.Info journalists about this.
The sister of the soldier Ivan Zhytnyk with the call sign "Django" recognized his body by his clothes and the bottle of water he was holding in his hands when the Ukrainian soldiers were being led out of the mine by the Russians. Ivan was just talking to his relatives via video link when the occupiers entered their makeshift hospital in the mine.
Ivan Zhytnyk with the call sign "Django".
Andriy Dubnytskyi, a soldier of the 110th brigade with the call sign "Bayraktar", was recognized by his brother Viktor Bilyak and his wife Lyudmila — by a tattoo in the shape of a cross on his arm.
Andriy Dubnytskyi with the call sign "Bayraktar".
Together with Andrii Dubnytsky, there was Georgy Pavlov with the call sign "Panda" in the Russian video. Innaʼs mother recognized him on the Russian video.
Georgy Pavlov with the call sign "Panda".
The DeepState project claims that the Russian military shot six captured Ukrainian soldiers at the "Museum" position (at "Zenit"). Russians spread such a video on the Internet the day before. In the footage, shot bodies are lying in the premises of Garage No. 1.
DeepState says that the decision to withdraw was delayed for a long time, until February 13, when ammunition and water supplies began to run out. The fighters who were shot tried unsuccessfully to unblock themselves. They were given the command to break through the battle in small groups, and then the commander said of the wounded: "Throw them to the ground and burn everything," shared one of the fighters.
On February 14, the exodus began in small groups, and the wounded were promised evacuation the next day. One of the surviving fighters remained with five wounded, probably it was "Panda". On February 16, the Russians began to spread footage of the soldiers who had been shot.
"A series of mistakes and procrastination with decisive action led to this tragedy," writes DeepState.
"Slidstva.Info" journalists asked the press service of the 110th separate mechanized brigade for a comment. They answered that the information needs to be verified: "I can neither confirm nor deny it, we need a check, a verification. The staff roster is information for official use, I donʼt have access to this information... I saw this video, but if it was true, the Russians would have been hysterical about us abandoning the wounded. These can be guys from another position, other places, another time."
On the night of February 17, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces withdrew from Avdiivka, and the commander of the Operational Strategic Group of the Armed Forces "Tavria" Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said that the withdrawal of the troops from Avdiivka went according to plan, but several Ukrainian soldiers still got there in captivity
According to him, Ukraine will appeal to international humanitarian organizations so that the enemy treats prisoners of war in accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law, and our military personnel return to Ukraine.