898 Russian invaders who were treated in Belarus after attempt to capture Kyiv have been identified – media investigation. PHOTOS
Journalists have identified Russian servicemen who were wounded during the offensive on Kyiv and transported to hospitals in Gomel and Khoiniki, Belarus, in February–March 2022. Among them are individuals who took part in the atrocities committed in Bucha.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to an investigation by Schemes (Radio Liberty).
The journalists were able to identify these Russian soldiers using a list of wounded personnel from the database of the Main Military Medical Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
According to the investigation, within 21 months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 898 wounded Russian troops and members of the Russian National Guard, so-called "secret patients", were treated at hospitals in the Belarusian cities of Gomel and Khoiniki.
"Elite" units
As journalists have revealed, Belarusian hospitals provided medical assistance to Russian soldiers from units whose involvement in the March 2022 attempt to capture Kyiv had not yet been officially confirmed.
In particular, these include special forces units, considered "elite" in Russia, which are stationed near Moscow: in Kubinka (military unit 28337) and in Solnechnogorsk (military unit 92154). According to the list of the wounded, 16 servicemen from these special forces units were treated in the hospitals of Homel following the assault on Kyiv region.
Murder of a pensioner
The obtained documents also enabled journalists to identify a Russian occupier allegedly involved in the killings of civilians in Kyiv region. He is Oleksandr Kvitko, call sign Shkiper, who serves as the commander of the 6th Company of the 234th Air Assault Regiment based in Pskov — a unit that took part in the atrocities in Bucha.
According to the leaked patient data, Kvitko was admitted to a hospital in Gomel on March 28, 2022, with shrapnel wounds to his neck, arm, lower leg, and buttock. This is also confirmed by a handwritten list of wounded soldiers from the 6th Company of the 234th Pskov Regiment obtained by journalists.
The document was found by a local resident after Bucha was liberated and handed over to Radio Liberty journalists. Kvitko’s name appears first on the list.
According to eyewitness accounts, Kvitko may have been involved in the killing of local pensioner Alla Minayeva, who lived in the area of Bucha that was occupied by his company.
Wounded paratroopers
The National Police had previously served a number of servicemen of the 234th Air Assault Regiment with suspicions of violating the laws and customs of war, premeditated murder and cruel treatment of civilians.
In addition to this unit, other paratroopers took part in the attempt to capture Kyiv: four divisions and several brigades.
Among them is the 31st Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade from the city of Ulyanovsk, which took part in the attempted seizure of Hostomel airport. According to the leaked data, 74 wounded soldiers from this unit were treated in Belarusian medical facilities. For example, Roman Zyazin, a 21-year-old Russian soldier of the brigade at the time.
After treatment, Zyazin did not return to the front, but he continued his military career and is now a cadet at the Military Institute of Physical Education. He also starred in a film by the Russian Defence Ministry's Zvezda TV channel.
Special Units of the Russian National Guard
Patient data from medical facilities in Homel also indicate that 68 servicemen from the Russian National Guard Directorate for Kemerovo region– Kuzbass were treated there. These troops had been deployed to seize Kyiv.
They belonged to two units: the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR), designed to combat organized crime and terrorism, and the Special Purpose Police Unit (OMON), tasked with maintaining public order and preventing mass unrest. In Russia, these units are also used to suppress public protests.
Occupiers from Buryatia
Among the patients of the Gomel hospital, journalists also counted about 70 Russian occupiers from Buryatia - from the 5th Tank (Ulan-Ude, military unit 46108) and 37th Motorised Rifle (Kyakhta, military unit 69647) brigades.
According to Ukrainian law enforcement, it was these two units that, in March 2022, took control of a section of the Kyiv–Chop highway, also known as the Zhytomyr Highway, and opened fire on civilian vehicles attempting to flee the combat zone.
Radio Liberty reporters obtained a document found near the Zhytomyr Highway after Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated Kyiv region. It lists the names of wounded Russian servicemen, including Zorik Zigbin, Munko-Zhargal Zhalmaev, and Dmytro Terentyev.
These three occupiers from the 5th Tank Brigade based in Ulan-Ude also appear in the patient records of the hospital in Gomel, where they were treated for injuries sustained in Kyiv region in March 2022.
