Ukrainian military identifies smoking soldier shot dead in shocking war video

Ukraine’s military has tentatively identified a man shot dead by Russian speakers as one of its missing soldiers.

The man, who was smoking a cigarette when he was riddled with bullets, was killed in a short video shared on social media.

The country’s chief prosecutor has announced a criminal investigation into the killing, while human rights chief Dmytro Lubinets argued it was a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Senior Ukrainian officials alleged, without providing further evidence, that the man was an unarmed prisoner of war killed by Russian soldiers.

The 30th Mechanised Brigade on its Facebook page named the man as Tymofii Shadura. The identification is based on preliminary information and not final, it said.

Mr Shadura has been missing for just over a month amid bitter fighting in the Bakhmut area of eastern Ukraine, the post said.

The city has been a combat hot spot as the war extends into its second year.

Mr Shadura’s identity will be confirmed once the body is returned from a Russian-occupied area, the post added, though it did not say when that will happen.

The Ukrainian military’s general staff gave the same name for the dead soldier, saying it is “according to preliminary information”.

In the 12-second video, the man, in combat fatigues, is seen in a wooded area.

Someone off-camera is heard taking in Russian. The man then says “Glory to Ukraine” and is hit by a volley of gunshots, falling into a hole in the ground, with an off-camera voice saying “die” followed by an expletive.

The Associated Press could not verify the video’s authenticity nor details about when it was recorded or the people involved.

Questions sent to the Russian military about the clip did not immediately receive a reply.

The video circulated widely on social media in Ukraine and unleashed an outcry.

In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “I want us all together, in unity, to respond to (the soldier’s) words: ‘Glory to the hero. Glory to heroes. Glory to Ukraine.’

“And we will find the killers.”

Moscow has also expressed suspicion about the treatment of Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian forces.

Last November, Ukraine said it would open an investigation into video footage which Moscow alleged shows Ukrainian soldiers killing Russian troops who may have been trying to surrender after one of the men seemingly refused to lay down his weapon and opened fire.

In other developments:

— UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres was on his way to Ukraine for a meeting on Wednesday in Kyiv with Mr Zelensky. The two are due to discuss the extension of an agreement which allows Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports and permits Russia to export food and fertilisers.

— Ukraine’s presidential office reported on Tuesday that at least one civilian was killed and 11 more wounded in Ukraine over the previous 24 hours. Fierce battles continued in the region for the key city of Bakhmut, where fewer than 4,000 civilians remain from a prewar population of 70,000, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

— A parliamentary delegation from Hungary said on Tuesday during a visit to Denmark that it supports Sweden’s Nato membership. Some Hungarian politicians had balked at supporting the Nato membership applications by Sweden and Finland, due to what they called “blatant lies” from Stockholm and Helsinki on the state of Hungary’s democracy.