Reporting from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine
BBCOn the frozen frontline within the east of Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian soldier surveyed the fallout from a Russian assault. It was the center of January 2024 and the bottom was lined in ice. Two weeks earlier, an 18-strong Russian assault group had damaged by way of the road and seized three positions, killing 5 Ukrainians and dropping 10 Russians earlier than ceding the skinny stretch of land again to the Ukrainians simply hours later. The three positions that had modified fingers have been every just some foxholes within the floor – dots on a devastated panorama of craters and shredded bushes.
The Ukrainian soldier filmed as he appeared over the stays of his fallen comrades. “That is Vitas, the small one,” he mentioned, utilizing the lifeless man’s callsign. He examined one other physique. “A silver ring, that is Grinch,” he mentioned. With problem, he turned over one other frozen physique. It was in dangerous situation, however the face was recognisable. The soldier sighed. “What can I discover to cowl you, so that you simply will not get chilly,” he mentioned to the lifeless man. He picked up a close-by helmet and positioned it over the broken face. “We now have discovered the Penguin,” he mentioned.
A 12 months later, in January 2025, a Russian soldier was frog-marched down the hall of a rundown native courthouse in Zaporizhzhia flanked by 5 Ukrainian troopers and a big rottweiler skilled on the Russian’s scent and straining at its leash to assault him. Dmitriy Kurashov, callsign ‘Stalker’, was about to go on trial for the alleged battlefield execution of Vitalii Hodniuk, a veteran 41-year-old Ukrainian soldier recognized by the callsign ‘Penguin’.
HandoutThe trial was to be the primary of its form. In response to Ukrainian authorities, Russian troops have executed not less than 124 prisoners of battle on the battlefield for the reason that full-scale invasion started, however Kurashov is the primary individual to be delivered to trial in Ukraine for the crime. His case is one among a tiny quantity among the many tens of hundreds of open battle crimes instances the place a suspect has been captured and will be made to face within the dock. Including to the unprecedented nature of the occasion, three members of Kurashov’s personal unit had agreed to testify in opposition to him.
Within the shiny, boxy courtroom, Kurashov was locked in a glass-enclosed dock. Quick in stature, his head usually bowed, he minimize a subdued determine. When he did go searching, he was pressured to swivel his head as a result of he had misplaced one eye to a grenade on the entrance. It was not Kurashov’s first time within the dock; he had been jailed twice earlier than in Russia, and was among the many hundreds of prisoners freed by the state to participate within the battle.
The prosecutor learn the costs. Kurashov was accused of capturing Hodniuk execution model because the Ukrainian soldier tried to give up – a violation of the legal guidelines of battle. Kurashov had intially pleaded not responsible, throughout the pre-trial part, however now in courtroom he switched his plea to responsible. Informally, he maintained his innocence, and was making the swap purely to hurry up the method, he mentioned.
In response to the UN, battlefield executions by Russians have elevated at an alarming fee over the previous 12 months. In a February report, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine mentioned it had discovered proof of 79 executions by Russian forces since August 2024, in addition to proof of three unlawful killings by Ukraine utilizing first-person drones. The UN additionally mentioned it had discovered not less than three calls by Russian public officers ordering or approving executions, and in line with Ukraine there may be proof of Russian battlefield commanders ordering executions up and down the frontline.
The assault on the entrance by Kurashov’s unit was to be his first correct operation, just some weeks after becoming a member of the battle. The unit was a part of “Storm-V”, a detachment of the 127th motorised rifle division made up virtually fully of freed prisoners. The Storm-V models have been utilized by Russia as cannon fodder, despatched to stage assaults on the worst components of the frontline. They’re a grim echo of comparable models shaped by Stalin, characterised principally by their extraordinarily excessive fee of attrition.
The operation started early on the morning of 6 January 2024 beneath a dense fog. The 18-strong Storm-V group approached the frontline in two armoured automobiles and a tank and the assault started. Kurashov was directed in direction of the small cluster of foxholes the place Hodniuk and others have been hiding, following a Russian artillery barrage.
That is the place Kurashov’s account diverges from that of the prosecution and the Russian troopers testifying in opposition to him. They are saying Kurashov referred to as right into a foxhole for these inside to give up and Hodniuk emerged unarmed and kneeled on the bottom, just for Kurashov to shoot him with a burst from his AK-47. Kurashov says that it was not him who fired the photographs however one other Russian, a medic with callsign “Sedoy”, who was later killed.
The Russians couldn’t maintain the place for lengthy. Overpowered by Ukrainian forces simply hours later, Kurashov and the opposite survivors crawled out of the foxholes and surrendered. They have been marched away from the entrance to a Ukrainian armoured automobile and brought as prisoners of battle. Ukrainian troopers who noticed Hodniuk’s physique instructed the nation’s state safety service, the SBU, that it lay face down with no weapon close by.
The SBU couldn’t entry the scene, as a result of it was too near the contact line, however the company started what would grow to be an intensive distant investigation. At an SBU location in Zaporizhzhia final month, the officer in cost – who spoke on situation of anonymity due to his work within the safety service – drew a map of the scene and defined how they put Kurashov within the dock.
“Step one was interrogating the eight prisoners of battle,” he mentioned. “They have been questioned as witnesses and later their identities have been absolutely confirmed by way of social networks, cellphones, and partial radio intercepts that preceded the occasion. The complete unit in that sector was tracked.”
Initially, there have been two suspected executions. One other Ukrainian, callsign ‘Grinch’, had been crushed to loss of life with a shovel, one witness mentioned. However the SBU could not show it. “The polygraph did not verify the knowledge and when the our bodies have been ultimately recovered from the battlefield, none of them had such accidents,” the investigator mentioned. “My opinion, after inspecting all of the information, is that this was made up.”
It was, he mentioned, an instance of Ukraine’s capacity to research and prosecute battle crimes impartially, regardless of being the sufferer and beneath an ongoing state of battle from the aggressor. “Look, we’ve one suspect on trial for an execution,” the SBU investigator mentioned, referring to Kurashov. “I signed it and despatched it to courtroom as a result of we have gathered sufficient proof that factors to guilt. If our purpose was merely to suspect anybody and ship them to courtroom we’d have ten prisoners passing by way of each day.”
The seriousness with which Ukraine is treating this felony prosecution is obvious. The SBU investigation produced greater than 2,000 pages of proof. Every of the witnesses was put by way of filmed reconstructions of the occasion on a Ukrainian military capturing vary. In courtroom, all efforts have been made by the prosecutor and the judges to make sure that Kurashov understands his rights, that he can perceive his translator, and is given the chance to cross study witnesses in opposition to him – a possibility he has thus far declined. (Kurashov’s state-appointed lawyer declined to talk to the BBC. She has spoken solely briefly in courtroom, on administrative issues and to make clear some descriptions of the occasion by witnesses.)
The three Russian witnesses all testified on the primary day of Kurashov’s trial – three former prisoners who like Kurashov had gambled on surviving the battle to achieve their freedom. One had been serving 25 years to life for killing two drug sellers, one other 9 years for grievous bodily hurt for killing a person with a brick in a struggle, a 3rd eight years, additionally for grievous bodily hurt.
They gave proof by way of video hyperlink from an adjoining courtroom, so that they might be locked in their very own dock. Dmitry Zuev, 44, was to be the important thing witness. He instructed the courtroom that he noticed Kurashov name for the Ukrainians to come back out of the foxhole and give up, after which Hodniuk emerged and knelt along with his fingers up. Then there have been extra gunshots and explosions, Zuev mentioned, and he noticed Hodniuk fall face down into the mud. Zuev additionally instructed the courtroom that he personally knew the medic, Sedoy, who Kurashov has accused of the killing, and Sedoy was not there.
Oleg Zamyatin, 54, testified that Hodniuk was not holding a gun when he emerged from the foxhole. Zamyatin didn’t see Kurashov hearth the alleged photographs, he mentioned, as a result of there have been explosions on the similar second.
“However I can say that it was him,” Zamyatin instructed the courtroom. “As a result of there was nobody else at that spot besides him.”
Konstantin Zelenin, 41, the commander of Kurashov’s small assault group, instructed the courtroom he was hiding in a crater when he noticed Hodniuk exit the foxhole on the best aspect along with his fingers up.
“Then, only a cut up second later, because the shelling started once more, I heard a burst from an computerized rifle,” Zelenin mentioned.
“On the best aspect was Stalker, and he was there alone.”
Within the dock, Kurashov sat largely mute as his former unit mates testified in opposition to him, talking solely often to his lawyer by way of a slim hole within the enclosure’s door. It’s not clear but if he’ll testify on his personal behalf. The day after one among his hearings, he agreed to speak to the BBC about how he had ended up on trial in Ukraine.
The interview was co-ordinated by the SBU and carried out at a derelict constructing in Zaporizhzhia getting used as a type of protected home by the service, which confirmed the fundamental information of Kurashov’s life. Kurashov appeared in good situation and mentioned he had agreed freely to participate. The lead decide in his case permitted the interview, for which an SBU press officer was current a number of the time. Kurashov’s remarks to the BBC won’t be admissible in courtroom.
His journey to that depressing stretch of entrance the place Hodniuk died – to changing into Stalker – started in an orphanage in Gremyachinsk, a decayed outdated coal city a few thousand miles from Moscow on the way in which to Siberia. Orphaned at start, Kurashov was raised in a bunch dwelling. As a teen, he received right into a struggle with a police officer and was imprisoned for assault. He served 4 years, however on his launch he had no household, associates or place to reside, so he turned a vagrant. He started robbing summer time homes and outlets for meals and cash, he mentioned, leading to one other imprisonment, this time in a distant penal colony alongside males serving life sentences for the a number of the most brutal crimes.
Six months into that sentence, representatives from the Russian navy got here to the penal colony and instructed the convicts they’d a possibility to show a brand new web page of their lives. Kurashov nonetheless had 5 years to serve. “They instructed us you’ll be able to have a clear slate, grow to be a clear individual,” he mentioned. “Simply signal this contract and go.”
“Go” meant to the “particular navy operation” in Ukraine. Kurashov knew little about it, he mentioned, however he thought something was higher than 5 extra years within the penal colony or being turned out into the streets on the finish of his sentence. So he signed, and was taken instantly to a coaching camp in occupied territory in Ukraine.
Kurashov described his unit as made up fully of “individuals who had been pushed down by life and rejected by society, who have been exterior of society”. They got 21 days coaching, he mentioned, throughout which they have been drunk virtually on a regular basis. “They didn’t need to examine or practice,” he recalled. “All of them mentioned they have been simply there to die.”
There was no coaching on the Geneva Conference, to which Russia and Ukraine are each signatories, and which prohibits the killing of people that have surrendered or not pose a risk. In reality, the trainers instructed them the other, Kurashov mentioned. “Those who taught us find out how to take positions instructed us to not take any prisoners,” he mentioned. His description matches accounts from his unit mates, who instructed Ukrainian investigators they have been instructed to execute prisoners and throw grenades into dugouts even when the enemy had surrendered.
It additionally matches accounts from different Russian prisoners of battle. “I do not recall coaching on worldwide humanitarian regulation,” a Russian POW instructed the UN lately. “Throughout our navy coaching and later, commanders instructed us to not take [Ukrainian soldiers] as prisoners of battle. It’s logistically cumbersome.”
In response to Kurashov, the unit have been instructed they’d be finishing up logistical operations like digging trenches, however as an alternative discovered themselves headed instantly for battle. In the course of the temporary assault on the Ukrainian place, Kurashov’s impression was not one among an ready navy unit at battle. “What I noticed was individuals who simply laid down and died,” he mentioned. Inside hours, 10 of the 18-strong assault group have been lifeless and the remaining eight have been in captivity.
Inside a fortnight, the incident had grow to be one among Ukraine’s many hundreds of battle crimes instances. Ukraine has no specialist battle crimes courts, so the instances typically fall to whichever courtroom is native to the offence. On this case, the Zavodskyi District in Zaporizhzhia.
Previous to the total scale invasion, 32-year-old Zavodskyi District prosecutor Mykyta Manevskyi had taken on a spread of civil crimes like theft, vandalism and fraud, plus two homicide instances, however by no means a battle crime. “Once you’re working with an extraordinary homicide case, it has difficulties but it surely’s fairly easy,” Manevskyi mentioned. “You understand the place the homicide came about, you’ll be able to accumulate DNA and fingerprints, you’ll find the homicide weapon. You will have virtually quick entry to the physique. You may conduct forensic exams.”
On this case, Manevskyi’s homicide scene was on the contact line. “We couldn’t even extract the physique for 2 months,” he mentioned. “It made it troublesome to carry out any type of forensic examination. The physique was too lengthy beneath the solar, the rain and snow, and it was harmed by artillery strikes.”
That made it troublesome to determine something concrete concerning the nature of the photographs that killed Hodniuk. “This isn’t the extent of element, sadly, that we want when investigating a homicide,” Manevskyi mentioned. “So we needed to focus extra on working with the witnesses we had.”
In reality, the prosecution is relying virtually completely on the testimony of the Russian troopers. There are not any different eyewitnesses, no drone footage of the particular occasion and the bodily proof is circumstantial, a lot of it badly degraded by the battlefield situations which continued for weeks earlier than the our bodies might be recovered.
However the testimony will not be with out its problems. The witnesses are all POWs, being held by the nation prosecuting the case. They have been every interrogated as much as 10 instances by the Ukrainian state safety service, throughout which era a few of their tales advanced. One bore a grudge in opposition to Kurashov from their time collectively in coaching, he instructed investigators. One other mentioned he resented the defendant for, in his view, getting them caught.
“It’s a tough space,” mentioned Sergey Vasiliev, a professor of worldwide regulation on the Open College of the Netherlands. “POWs are a very susceptible class of witnesses, any proof they offer must be taken with a grain of salt.” There was nothing inherently mistaken with POWs testifying, Vasiliev mentioned, however numerous components might have affected their choice to look for the prosecution. “Perhaps they’re anticipating higher remedy in Ukrainian custody, possibly they anticipate to be prioritised in a prisoner swap,” he mentioned. “They might have numerous incentives to lie.”
Kurashov maintains his story concerning the medic, Sedoy. He instructed the BBC he had pleaded responsible as a result of he believed the earlier the trial was over the earlier he might be exchanged again to Russia.
But when Kurashov is discovered responsible, he’s not a prisoner of battle. He’s merely a prisoner in Ukraine’s civil authorized system. Yuriy Belousov, the pinnacle of the battle crimes division of Ukraine’s Workplace of the Prosecutor Common, instructed the BBC that Russian troopers convicted of battle crimes would go to jail in Ukraine and keep there. “We prosecute on behalf of the victims and their family and they need to really feel justice has been performed,” Belousov mentioned.
In the long run, it might not be that straightforward. Russia has captured many hundreds of civilians throughout its full scale invasion of Ukraine and is successfully holding them hostage in Russian prisons. If the Kremlin decides it desires Kurashov again, it could have leverage to get him.
“That’s much less of a authorized and extra of an moral challenge,” Belousov mentioned. “If, for instance, 100 individuals can be provided to alternate for this one, then sure possibly. It’s our obligation to prosecute on behalf of victims, however it is usually our obligation to save lots of our individuals who have been saved in Russia.”
Belousov and his colleagues are aiming at greater fish than Kurashov. Their purpose for this 12 months and subsequent is to carry instances in opposition to center and better degree Russian command, he mentioned. In response to the testimony from the captured Russians in Kurashov’s unit, their senior commander issued an order instantly earlier than the assault that no prisoners must be taken.
In response to Belousov, comparable proof has been discovered up and down the frontline. Grim video proof, typically shared on Russian social media, seems to bear that out. Russia has in flip accused Ukrainian troops of extra-judicial killings, and Ukraine has launched a number of investigations into its personal forces (the precise quantity is unclear). However the variety of allegations in opposition to Russia far outweighs that in opposition to Ukraine. Russia has beforehand denied committing battle crimes within the battle.
The UN has additionally documented a number of instances of Russian public figures calling for executions. Final July, after Ukraine’s Azov Brigade posted a social media video displaying one among its members capturing a Russian soldier in a dugout, the deputy head of Russia’s Safety Council, Dmitry Medvedev, referred to as for “complete executions” of Ukrainian servicemen.
“No phrases about mercy. No humanity. No pardon. They don’t have any proper to life. Execute, execute and execute,” Medvedev wrote on the Telegram social media platform.
Medvedev’s phrases won’t price him something. As a substitute they run downhill till they attain the extent of Vitalii Hodniuk, Dmitry Kurashov, and all the opposite Russian and Ukrainian males killing one another in service of the battle’s obscure targets. On this case, a type of males stands accused of breaking the legal guidelines of the killing he had been despatched to do – legal guidelines he might nicely have been ordered to ignore.
If discovered responsible, Kurashov faces as much as life in jail. On the finish of his dialog with the BBC, he mentioned that he had no actual imaginative and prescient for the long run, apart from a want to return to Russia. “At the least I’ll have a incapacity,” he mentioned, referring to the lack of his eye, and the anticipated advantages it could draw. “I will not need to be a vagrant anymore.”
Vitalii Hodniuk can not return dwelling, in fact. It was two months earlier than his physique might even be recovered. His household didn’t need to communicate publicly about his passing, however they did help within the SBU in its investigation. Hodniuk’s file exhibits that he was an skilled soldier who defended Ukraine in opposition to Russian-backed forces from 2015 to 2020 and joined as much as struggle once more in 2022.
Final Might, six months after he died, the Penguin was introduced again to his village to be buried. On a shiny morning, only a stone’s throw from the place he grew up and went to highschool, individuals lined the road on their knees to observe his coffin go by.
Kurashov’s trial continues.
Daria Mitiuk contributed to this report. Pictures by Joel Gunter.
