![]() ![]() However, the authenticity of the videos cannot be validated with purely technical means due to the low resolution of the video and the absence of metadata.īellingcat’s investigation into visual clues in the videos using the available open source evidence corroborates the authenticity of the three violent videos and indicates that fighters from ‘Akhmat’, a Chechen paramilitary formation serving with the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, were present at the scene of the murder. Several incorrect identifications of the man who committed the act – a soldier wearing a cowboy-style hat – were made by various media outlets and individuals online.īellingcat researchers have reviewed the footage, which does not contain visible signs of editing or tampering. In recent days, journalists and open source researchers have sought to identify the culprits of this apparent war crime, with mixed success. In a third video, the captive is executed with a gunshot to the head, presumably by the soldier in the cowboy hat. ![]() In the second video, the presumed Russian soldier in the cowboy hat then castrates the captive, who is mocked by the group of soldiers watching. In the first video, two accomplices were seen restraining the man while the cameraman and a man in a cowboy hat looked on. The identity of the victim, whose face cannot be seen clearly in the videos, remains unknown. The footage shows a soldier approaching a figure wearing Ukrainian military fatigues and the blue and yellow patches worn by Ukrainian servicemen. ĭescription of the Three Videos (Caution: disturbing content) The videos were initially celebrated by the channel administrators and most of the commenting users, until several hours later they were suddenly disowned by the same as “likely forgeries”, allegedly planted in the pro-Russian channels by agents of Ukraine aiming to discredit the Russian army.Ī description of the act in the videos, which each show a part of the same sequence of events, follows in the closed drop-down box below. The videos were subsequently reposted on the popular Rosich Telegram channel run by a nationalist Russian mercenary group. The three videos (hereafter ‘the violent videos’) were initially posted on a Russian telegram channel whose name translates as ‘Cargo 200, death to Ukrainians’, which extolls casualties among Ukrainian armed forces. Bellingcat has not linked to these videos due to their extremely graphic nature. On July 28, a series of horrifying videos circulated on pro-Russian social media which depicted an act of sexual violence and execution of what appeared to be a Ukrainian prisoner of war. ![]() Editor’s note: this article contains descriptions of sexual violence and murder which readers may find disturbing. ![]()
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