Relatives identified bodies of soldiers Ivan Zhytnyk, Andriy Dubnytsky and Hryhoriy Pavlov. They were wounded by occupiers at Zenit position in Avdiivka.. PHOTO
Investigative journalists from Slidstvo.info spoke to the mother, wife and sister of three Ukrainian defenders who were left wounded at the Zenit position in Avdiivka.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Slidstvo Info.
As reported, Kateryna, whose brother, Ivan Zhytnyk with the call sign 'Django', has been in Avdiivka for two years as part of the 110th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told reporters that she received a call from Ivan saying that he was wounded and that there were four other wounded soldiers of the brigade and one soldier who was healthy but decided to stay with his comrades.
Ivan Zhytnyk with the call sign "Django"
"They (the wounded) were told to wait for the car, and all of them were taken away in one piece. And they waited for the car for a day and a half. And when they realised that no one was coming to pick them up, they started calling everyone. When Vanya called me, he was in so much pain, they injected him with everything they had left, but they were running out of medicine and food, too," the woman says.
The conversation between the siblings was posted on social media, although Kateryna says she did not post anything, but sent the recording to her relatives.
In the afternoon, Katerina's son-in-law called Django via video link.
"My brother said that the command had agreed that the Russians would take them away, because our men would not be able to get to them," Kateryna says.
During this video conversation, Kateryna's son-in-law saw Russians enter the mine and tell everyone to get out: "And my son-in-law told us: 'I see the Russians coming in and saying: 'Get up, get out, we're not going to carry you'. My son-in-law was still trying to talk to him, and they told my brother to turn off the phone."
Later, Viktor Bilyak, a fighter with the 110th Brigade, told Slidstvo.info that he had been with the wounded soldiers on the Zenit before it was evacuated. The journalists saw a video on Russian social media showing the dead in Ukrainian Armed Forces uniforms, one of them with a bandaged head. The video was shot at the Zenit position. One of the dead has a tattoo in the shape of a cross on his arm. Viktor Bilyak identified the man as Andriy Dubnytsky, call sign "Bayraktar", a fighter with the 110th Brigade. On 14 February, he remained at the Zenit position along with other wounded.
Andrii Dubnytskyi with the call sign "Bayraktar"
"He called me at 7am, but we were sleeping. We talked at 10 am. He was wounded in the groin, reeling, trying to joke, crying. Then we corresponded... The last message was at 12:00 that he would be captured. I still have all the correspondence," Lyudmyla, Bayraktar's wife, told Slidstvo.info.
On 16 February, Liudmyla went to the military enlistment office to find out something about her husband, but she was not given any answers: "They said they would contact me, but no one did, I passed out."
Liudmyla woke up in the evening and started looking for information about her husband in Russian public media.
"At 10.30pm I found this video, I recognised him by his tattoo. His colleague confirmed to me that it was him. No one called me after that, nothing. Today, they asked for a DNA test of my daughter, in case of emergency, I gave them all the documents, passport details, military ID. He was called up on 8 March 2022, and since then he has been in Avdiivka all the time... My daughter was 4 months old when he was mobilised," the woman says.
Together with Andriy Dubnytsky, Hryhoryi Pavlov with the call sign 'Panda' was in the Russian video. His mother Inna recognised him.
Hryhoriy Pavlov with the call sign "Panda"
Hryhoriy "Panda" Pavlov is a contract soldier who has served since 2015. In 2017, he was in Mariupol, then transferred to the 110th Brigade, and for the last year he served at the Zenit position. The woman says the soldiers waited three days for evacuation.
"They waited for three days for the car, he was not wounded then, and on the 14th he was wounded, he had shrapnel wounds, his back... I begged him very much, son, surrender, I need you alive - he has a small child, 5 years old, his son Andriusha, and he said: "Mum, I am a warrior". I would like to believe that they are alive. The biggest thing I want now is to find my son. I want to see my son - he will be 30 this year," says Inna.
A few hours after the conversation with Slidstvo journalists, the woman wrote a message saying that she had recognised her son's body in the same Russian video of the killed Ukrainian soldiers.
Kateryna, the sister of the Django fighter, also hoped to the last that her brother would be treated and exchanged.
"I hope they will treat him there in Donetsk, his legs are swollen. I hope they don't shoot them," Kateryna told journalists in the morning.
However, in the Russian video, the woman recognised Ivan's body from his clothes and the water bottle he was holding when they were taken out of the mine by the Russians. Ivan was talking to his family via video when the occupiers entered their makeshift hospital in the mine.
Slidstvo.info journalists asked the press service of the 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade for a comment. They replied that they needed to verify the information: "I can neither confirm nor deny it, we need to check and verify it. The staffing list is information for official use, I do not have access to this information... I have seen this video, but if it were true, the Russians would have already started a hysteria that we had abandoned the wounded. These could be guys from another position, other places, other times."
Defence Forces withdraw from Avdiivka
On 16 February, the commander of the Tavria operational and strategic grouping of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, said that the Tavria Defence Forces had decided to withdraw from the Zenit position in Avdiivka on the southeastern outskirts of the city.
On the night of 17 February, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, decided to withdraw our units from Avdiivka. In turn, the commander of the Tavria operational and strategic grouping of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, said that the Defence Forces had withdrawn from Avdiivka to their previously prepared positions. According to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the decision to withdraw Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka was professional and fair.
Later, it became known that at the final stage of the operation, under pressure from the enemy's superior forces, a number of Ukrainian soldiers were captured while leaving Avdiivka.
