Journalists identify Russian soldiers treated in Belarus after march on Kyiv
Radio Liberty has identified Russian servicemen who were wounded during the offensive on Kyiv and taken to hospitals in Gomel and Khoiniki in Belarus in February-March 2022.
Source: Radio Liberty investigation
Details: A total of 898 servicemen, including special forces, paratroopers and Russian guards, who tried to capture the Ukrainian capital at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and who may be involved in war crimes in Kyiv Oblast.
In particular, these are units of the "special operations forces", which are considered "elite" in Russia and are stationed near Moscow: in Kubinka (military unit 28337) and Solnechnogorsk (military unit 92154). According to the list of wounded, 16 soldiers from these Special Operations Forces units were admitted to hospitals in Gomel after the offensive in Kyiv Oblast.
The leaked data also suggests that after the battles for Kyiv and Chernihiv, soldiers from other "elite" units, such as special forces of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation (also known as the GRU), were brought to Belarus for treatment from Khabarovsk, Tambov, Novosibirsk and Tolyatti.
The documents helped journalists, among other things, to identify a Russian soldier allegedly involved in the killing of civilians in Kyiv Oblast. This is Alexander Kvitko with the alias Skipper. He is the commander of the sixth company of the 234th Air Assault Regiment from Pskov, a unit that took part in the capture of Bucha.
Oleksandr Kvitko with the alias Skipper.
Photo: Radio Liberty
According to the leaked patient data, Kvitko was brought to a Gomel hospital on 28 March 2022 with shrapnel wounds to his neck, arm, shin and buttock.
The eyewitnesses say that Kvitko could have been involved in the murder of local pensioner Alla Minaieva. She lived in the area occupied by his company in Bucha.
"Civilians who were helping the woman [Alla Minaieva - ed.] approached Alexander Kvitko and asked if they could go to her to bring some food, to which Kvitko explained to them that they did not need to go to the woman anymore, because they had "treated her humanely"," said Ivan Dulkai, a senior police investigator for particularly important cases, in a comment to Radio Liberty.
After Bucha's release, Minaieva was found dead in her home with a bullet hole in her head.
Other paratroopers participated in the attempt to capture Kyiv: four divisions and several brigades, in addition to the 234th Guards Air Assault Regiment. The documents obtained by journalists for the first time prove the simultaneous presence of these paratroopers near Kyiv, that is, their joint participation in the attempt to capture the city.
Among them is the 31st Separate Guards Airborne Assault Brigade from the city of Ulyanovsk, which participated in the attempt to capture Hostomel airport. The leaked data indicates that 74 wounded soldiers of this unit were treated in Belarusian medical facilities. For example, Roman Zyazin, at that time a 21-year-old Russian serviceman of the brigade, was treated there.
Roman Zyazin.
Photo: Radio Liberty
The journalists found Zyazin on the list of patients in the Gomel hospital, where he was hospitalised with a facial injury and an open fracture of the lower jaw on 4 March 2022. After treatment, Zyazin did not return to the front, but continued his military career, now he is a cadet at the Military Institute of Physical Culture. He also starred in the film on the TV channel "Zvezda", which is run by the Russian Ministry of Defence and owned by the Russian Defence Ministry.
Data on patients of Gomel medical institutions also indicate that 68 servicemen from the department of the National Guard of Russia in the Kemerovo Oblast, Kuzbass, who were sent to capture Kyiv through Hostomel, were also treated there.
These are two units: the Special Rapid Response Unit, created to combat organised crime and terrorism, and the Special Purpose Mobile Unit (OMON), which is supposed to ensure public order and prevent mass riots. These units are used in Russia, in particular, to suppress public protests.
Russian BMD-4 in Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast, where on 3 March 2022, as reported by Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, 20 combat vehicles of the Russian landing force were destroyed.
Photo: Radio Liberty
Journalists identified police lieutenant Aleksey Artamonov in the list of OMON police officers wounded during the offensive on Ukraine. Documents show that he received shrapnel wounds and broken bones in Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast, and was hospitalised to a Belarusian hospital on 1 March.
Aleksey Artamonov's documents. Photo: Radio Liberty
Photo: Radio Liberty
On the same day, another Russian police officer, Sergeant Ivan Dyukanov, who was wounded in Hostomel, was hospitalised with a head injury and bruises.
On 6 March, the list of wounded included Andrey Leonov and Andrey Khitrov, OMON police officers, who were hospitalised to medical institutions in Gomel. Andrey Leonov had a head injury and contusion, and Andrey Khitrov had a shrapnel wound to the left shin. Radio Liberty received a document from sources confirming the presence of another OMON police officer, Khitrov, in Hostomel.
Ivan Dukanov and Andrey Leonov.
Photo: Radio Liberty
It is the OMON police officer of the Kemerovo Oblast, together with the servicemen of the mobile special purpose detachment of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, that Ukrainian law enforcement officers accuse of killing civilians. In particular, they are accused of the execution of civilians in Hostomel on 25 February. Five officers of the National Guard of Russia from these units were served with a notice of suspicion of murdering five people.
Among the patients of the Gomel hospital, the journalists also counted about 70 Russian soldiers from Buryatia: from the 5th tank (Ulan-Ude, military unit 46108) and the 37th Separate Guards Motor Rifle (Kyakhta, military unit 69647) brigades.
The Ukrainian law enforcement reports that it was these two units that, in March 2022, took control of part of the Kyiv-Chop highway, also known as the Zhytomyr highway, and shot at cars with civilians who tried to leave for the west, away from the war.
Russian military equipment on the Zhytomyr highway, March 2022.
Photo: Radio Liberty
Radio Liberty received at its disposal a document found near the Zhytomyr highway after the liberation of Kyiv Oblast. It lists the names of wounded Russian servicemen, in particular, Zorik Zigbin, Munko-Jargal Zhalmaev and Dmitry Terentyev.
Journalists also found these three soldiers of the 5th tank brigade of Ulan-Ude in the lists of patients of the Gomel hospital, where they were taken with injuries received in Kyiv Oblast in March 2022.
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