Ukrainian law enforcement officers identify Russian soldiers who killed 13 people on Zhytomyr highway

Ukraine's National Police reported this. 

Law enforcement officers identified the Russian soldiers who shot 10 civilian cars in the Kyiv region in March 2022. Then 13 people were killed, and six more were injured.

The police recalled: “In March, the occupiers set up a combat position on the Zhytomyr highway (M06) and shot cars with civilians trying to escape the war. As a result of the shelling, a two-year-old child received a serious gunshot wound, and the occupiers killed his parents in front of the seven-year-old boy.” Such data was provided by the head of the investigative department of the Main Directorate of Ukraine's National Police in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Oleksandr Klymovskyi.

It is noted that after February 24, two battalion tactical groups from the 5th Detached Tank Brigade of the Russian Federation were among the first to invade the territory of Ukraine.

Already on March 3, the occupying Russian forces entered the Zhytomyr highway: one battalion-tactical group took a position in the Berezivka village, and the second - at a gas station near the Myla village. 

“It was the second battalion-tactical group that committed the most shootings and murders on the Zhytomyr highway. Russian tanks were stationed behind the gas station, next to it and opposite it, thus blocking traffic in both directions. The next day, March 4, the invaders shot five cars. Then seven Ukrainians were killed, and four more received gunshot wounds,” Oleksandr Klymovskyi informed.

2 cars were the first to come under fire: the couple in the first car survived, and the occupiers “arranged a real hunt” for the second vehicle:

“There was a family with a small child in the second car. They managed to drive much further under fire than the car that was driving ahead, so the occupiers organized a real hunt and began to fire heavily at the car. As a result, a two-year-old girl and her father received gunshot wounds, and the mother was killed. The severely injured father and his daughter walked quite a distance on foot. They were driven to the nearest Ukrainian checkpoint by a driver who was passing nearby. There, the victims were given medical assistance,” the National Police reported. 

On March 7, the Russians fired at 14-15 vehicles, and the first three vehicles came under fire:

“The footage of the shooting of a car that was driving one of the first in the convoy went viral all over the world. In the car was a family with a 7-year-old child, as well as their neighbor. The child's mother died immediately as a result of the shelling. The father, trying to save his son, got out of the car with raised hands. He was shot by Russian soldiers in front of the boy. The woman and the child were taken away by the occupiers. They were sure that they would be shot, but at the last moment they were released,” law enforcement agencies said.

The pre-trial investigation established that from March 4 to 25, 2022, the occupiers fired at 10 vehicles: 13 people were killed, and 6 more were injured.

During the retreat from the Kyiv region, the Russians burned the cars and bodies of the killed people who remained there. This is how the invaders wanted to hide the executions of the civilian population.

So far, law enforcement officers have identified most of the 5th Detached Tank Brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army of the Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. Suspicion has also been announced against the commander of the 5th Battalion, who directed the shootings of a motorcade of civilians on the Zhytomyr highway.

In particular, evidence of involvement in the executions of other Russian soldiers was collected: operatives and investigators collected a database of 400 invaders who committed war crimes during the occupation of the Kyiv region.

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