“A man was being killed for an hour and a half. I prayed: God, take him away”

Originally posted on onetinformation by translation: Anastasiia Morozova / frontstory.pl June 13, 2023 at 4:40 pm, photos: Dmytro Replianchuk / slidtsvo.info https://www.onet.pl/informacje/frontstory/half-hours-zabijano-czlowieka-modlilem-sie-boze-zabierz-go/20724ks,30bc1058

The text is a reprint of an article by Slidstvo.Info – a team of independent investigative journalists from Ukraine. The original Ukrainian version was published on www.slidstvo.info.

Photo: Dmytro Replianchuk / Slidtsvo.Info Translation: Anastasia Morozova / FRONTSTORY.PL

The gray-haired man stares at the printed portraits of Russian military men. He tries not to miss any detail. It is possible that among them there are those who killed his daughter during the Russian occupation and took him prisoner.

In the village of Motyzhin in the Kiev region, the Russian occupiers committed particular atrocities. They captured and tortured civilians, and later killed many. And those who tried to leave the occupied village were shot right next to the road. During the occupation, the Russians murdered dozens of people, including the village headman Olga Suchenko, her family, volunteers, ordinary villagers who did not pose any threat.

The 37th Motorized Rifle Brigade from Buryatia was stationed mainly in Motyżyn and the surrounding villages. This Russian unit consists of infantry, armored vehicles, artillery and other types of troops. After escaping from Kiev at the end of March, the Russians left behind burnt equipment, patches from uniforms and staff documents. This helped Slidstvo.Info journalists to identify many soldiers from this brigade.

After printing the portraits of the found occupiers, the journalists went to Motyżyn to talk to the inhabitants who survived the occupation. Thanks to their testimonies, Slidstvo.Info managed to identify three Russian soldiers and the specific crimes they committed during the occupation of Kiev region.

The Russians killed the daughter in front of her parents

Mykola Lytvynenko lived and worked in Kiev. One day he and his wife decided to move to the village of Motyżyn – closer to nature and you can spend more time working in the garden, which they loved so much. The couple was regularly visited by two adult daughters who already lived in the capital with their families.

In the first days of the war, Mykola took both his daughters to Motyżyn. They hoped that it would be safer and quieter here than in the capital. But in early March, Russian troops entered and occupied the village. Mykola and his family hid in the house and basement, hoping that the Russian missiles would miss them. One day, the man heard a loud shooting and when it stopped, he ran outside to see what was going on.

– I was afraid because they were shooting in all the courtyards. They just shot at yards. I thought they were “cleaning” them, shooting people. So I shouted for our guys to run, I wanted to hide them. Reeds and grass grow by the pond and you can’t see anything, recalls Mykola. “But we didn’t make it.” My daughter was chubby, she ran last. They saw her over the fence and started shooting.

The Russian occupiers hit the torso of 41-year-old Jarosława. It happened in front of her parents. Mykola ran to her and tried to stop the bleeding. At that moment, the Russians entered the courtyard.

“They have telescopic sights, they had a good idea of ​​who she was. I say, “Why did you shoot?” And he: “Anyone wearing black is our enemy.” And she was wearing black. She was still alive, so we started asking if they had a doctor, if they could take her to a doctor, maybe we could save her,” says Mykola.

The occupiers placed the wounded Jarosława in the BTR, and Mykola sat down next to her, holding her daughter’s head. They were taken to the Russian positions on the outskirts of Motyżyn, where the headquarters and a military doctor were located.

“I saw that doctor of theirs tried, but blood and fluid came out of her mouth. I understood: it’s over, his lungs are punctured.

Jarosława died, the bullet actually pierced her lungs. She was covered with a soldier’s blanket, and Mykola was taken prisoner. The occupiers took the man to a shed, several dozen meters from the Russian positions.

Looking through a catalog with the faces of Russian occupiers from the 37th brigade, Mykola recognized one of them. This is 30-year-old Sergeant Magomedmirza Sulejmanow. He comes from Dagestan, lives and serves in Buryatia. The occupant is probably associated with military intelligence, as he has undergone special training.

– He (Suleimanov – editor’s note) looks like one of those guys. There were two BTRs and one more car in the caponiers. He looks like that boy. He was in tracksuits and trainers, no uniform. I saw him only when I was next to my daughter, then not. He is so skinny, tall, about one meter eighty, recalls Mykola.

When they were carrying Mykola, passing the Russian camp, Magomedmirza Sulejmanow was probably preparing his dinner. We showed Mykolai additional photos of the occupant and he confirmed that with “high probability” he had seen him.

Ukrainian military found a document from the battlefield in which the name of Magomedmirz Suleimanov appears. The Russians recorded who, where and when allegedly destroyed Ukrainian military equipment. According to these documents, Suleimanov destroyed a Ukrainian Gazelle car at noon on March 7 in the city of Makariv. It’s only a 20-minute drive from where Mykola saw Suleimanov.

“How can you kill so long”

Mykola was locked in a shed on a small farm. It was freezing outside, so the man could barely stand the cold. The occupiers brought and threw him a blanket and felt boots. A few days later, Oleg, a local pastor who ran a rehabilitation center for people addicted to alcohol and drugs, was brought to him. The day before, the Russians visited this center and took Pastor Oleg away: they suspected that he was helping the Ukrainian troops.

– They (Russians – editor’s note) suspected that some group lived in the rehabilitation center and killed them. They thought the rehabilitation center was a front and that a group of Boy Scouts actually lived there. They came to us for the first time on March 23, and on March 24 they came again and took me with them,” recalls Oleg.

The man was brought to a farm near the Russian trenches and thrown into a drain. From time to time they dragged him out and tortured him, demanding that he confess to sabotage and trying to extract some secret information from him. After the escape of the Russians, a local resident was found tortured to death in the same sewage pit.

– When I was sitting in the sewer, some 10-15 meters from me they were murdering a man. Until I prayed and said: “God, take him away at last.” Well, for an hour and a half, an hour and a half, a man was killed. Every time I think about it, I get a strong adrenaline rush, my body itches and I can’t sleep, says Oleg.

Pastor Oleg and the employees of the rehabilitation center who survived the occupation carefully looked through the catalog with the faces of Russian soldiers from the 37th brigade. Everyone recognized one person: 24-year-old Sergeant Chingiz Gonchikov. He has been serving in the Russian army for several years. He has a wife and a small child. According to the documents at our disposal, Genghiz Gonchikov serves as commander of a combat vehicle in the 37th motorized rifle brigade.

He had a sniper rifle. He kept looking around the corner through the sights of the SVD (Soviet rifle – ed.). I recognized him because I watched his actions,” describes the activities of Genghiz Gonchikov, one of the employees of the center. The man also tells how Gonchikov and his colleagues behaved: – They are standing and discussing what to do with us. They say, “Are we going to shoot them or are we going to herd them into this shed and throw two grenades inside?” They were joking, from what I understood.

Russian torture chamber, next to it – a mass grave

Judging by the testimonies of the victims whom Slidstvo.Info managed to talk to, the local farm was a place of torture and execution. Just behind the farm fence, a mass grave was dug into which the Russians threw the bodies of murdered civilians. It was here that the bodies of the starost Olga Suchenko, her husband and son were found. Sitting in the shed, Mykola heard how they were tortured.

– She (Olga Suchenko – editor’s note) screamed loudly, begging them. Maybe they didn’t beat her then, but took turns beating her son and her husband. That’s where they’re buried. They were tortured for about half an hour. I didn’t hear what exactly they wanted or asked from them. I just heard them beating them,” recalls Mykola.

The Russians fled in the morning. According to the prisoners, the tanks left first, then armored personnel carriers and trucks. Mykola and pastor Oleg were not shot. One of the occupiers opened the door for them and told them to wait until the last Russian troops left the area. The men left the farm and immediately came across a mass grave.

– Olga Petrivna (the village headman – ed.) was in this pit, her husband and son were here, there was also a volunteer here. There are even blood stains here. And look – there are Russian rations right next to it. So much blood and they ate right next to it – describes Pastor Oleg.

A little later, they also found a grave where Mykola’s daughter, Yaroslava, was buried. The Russians covered her with a green checked blanket and covered her with earth. On the grave they left a piece of paper with the inscription “Yaroslava Lytvynenko”.

Wagnerians in Motyżyn

In an interview with witnesses and victims, Slidstvo.Info drew attention to one detail: people mentioned that regular Russian troops were accompanied by occupiers who were more like mercenaries. They were in a different camouflage, with different weapons and behaved differently.

According to official investigators, the murders and torture of civilians in Motyżyn, apart from the Russian army, were carried out by mercenaries from the private military structure of CWK “Wagner” – three of them have already been charged.

During the conversation with Mykola, we showed him the faces of the suspected Wagnerians.

After carefully examining the photos, Mykola and his wife clearly recognized one of the suspects – Sergey Sazonov.

– It’s him! He is very similar to him. This is the same person who said that anyone wearing black is our enemy. And if he’s also one of the Wagnerians, it’s definitely him. I don’t remember what I asked him, but he replied: “Yes, we were in Libya and Syria, and you were in Donbass in 2014.” That’s why I say 100% Wagner.

Sergei Sazonov is 34 years old and comes from Russian Kaliningrad. According to Ukrainian law enforcement and special services, Sazonovv is a mercenary of CWK “Wagner”. He serves there as the driver of a command and staff vehicle. On his social media profiles, he publishes photos in a military uniform, as well as photos from airports.

The Litvinenko family is convinced that it was Sergei Sazonov who killed their Yaroslava. – He (Sazonov – editor’s note) came one of the first. They come up to us and I ask: “Why did you do that?”. And he answers me (about black clothes – ed.). If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have responded. I think it was him who shot – says Mykola. During the writing of this text, the general prosecutor’s office announced that eight Russian soldiers are suspected of crimes committed during the occupation of Motyzyn – they were charged with 14 acts. Most of these occupiers had previously been identified by Slidstvo.Info journalists.