Three bullets were fired by an off-camera person at the soldier, who was wearing one of the white armbands used by the Russian forces. He is bleeding heavily, is on a road next to a dead soldier and seems to be having difficulty breathing. “Look, he’s still alive, he’s already whistling … It’s over,” says a voice before two rounds are fired. A third is fired as the soldier continues to move. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The video is then transferred to two other dead soldiers on the street who also have white armbands. One of them has his hands tied behind his back and has been shot in the head. A Russian armored vehicle has been abandoned nearby. Reuters could not determine the exact date of the video, which was first reported by the New York Times. Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency published footage of the aftermath of the March 30 shooting. The obvious Ukrainian forces in the video are Russian-speaking. At least one had a Caucasian accent and others had typical accents in parts of southern Russia or parts of eastern Ukraine. Some of them shouted “Glory to Ukraine!” At least one wore a blue armband used by the Ukrainian army, but their affiliation was unclear. One of them had a patch with a Ukrainian flag in his hand, but it was upside down. Reuters geographically located the video north of the village of Dmytrivka, not far from the city of Bucha northwest of Kiev, where Ukraine has accused Russia of war crimes. Moscow said the video of the bodies in Bucha was set up. Russia said last week it would sharply reduce military activity around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv and Ukraine, which has recaptured towns and villages. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said he had not seen the video but had heard it. “I want to assure you that the Ukrainian army is abiding by the rules of war … Of course there may be isolated cases of breach of these rules and they will certainly be investigated,” he said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Ellis Ng and George Sargent. Edited by: Daniel Wallis Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
