The Ukrainian soldier who was fatally shot in a chilling video that emerged final week has been named a Hero of Ukraine by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr. Zelensky on Sunday night time stated he had bestowed the consideration on Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, whose demise was captured in a video that Ukrainian officers stated was the execution of a prisoner of warfare by Russian forces.
The ten-second video reveals the soldier, barely hunched and with a cigarette dangling from his lip, standing in what seems to be a freshly dug patch of filth. Exhaling a puff of smoke, he says “Slava Ukraini” — Glory to Ukraine — earlier than gunfire virtually instantly erupts from off-camera. The soldier’s physique crumples to the bottom as voices talking Russian mock him.
Nearly as quickly because it started circulating, Ukrainian officers cited the video as proof of Russian warfare crimes. The prosecutor basic’s workplace stated it had opened an investigation, and Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the prosecutor of the Worldwide Prison Court docket to analyze.
Even with conflicting information about the soldier’s identity, he grew to become a logo of nationwide resolve, along with his likeness circulating extensively. Some confirmed him with the word hero, others with angel wings, and extra nonetheless bearing the phrase Glory to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s north army district regional administration recognized the soldier as Mr. Matsiyevsky, citing data from his household and his fellow servicemen. It stated that Mr. Matsiyevsky disappeared in December after he and 4 different troopers engaged in a battle with Russian troops on the outskirts of Soledar, a small city close to Bakhmut within the jap Donbas area that Russia took over just a few weeks later.
Mr. Matsiyevsky “will probably be remembered endlessly,” Mr. Zelensky stated in a Telegram publish, “for his bravery, for his confidence in Ukraine and for his ‘Glory to Ukraine!’”
