Circumstances of the murder of 5 Ukrainian soldiers by the Russian occupier in a village near Kharkiv have been established

Source : Author’s Facebook page

SBU investigators have charged Leonid Ryzhikov, a soldier of the 1009th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 68th Division of the Russian Armed Forces, who killed 5 Ukrainian soldiers and 1 civilian on October 13 and tried to hide in Kharkiv. The circumstances of this crime are noteworthy; my company also operates in this area.

According to the SBU press release, the attack on the fighters was carried out by a Russian soldier from the assault company of the 1009th motorized rifle regiment of the Russian Armed Forces. According to the killer, he, together with another soldier, was sent to storm Ukrainian positions near the village of Starytsia, a firefight broke out in the forest, and his partner surrendered. But Ryzhikov went on alone. He managed to bypass the positions of the 72nd brigade unnoticed, avoiding combat, and reach our deep rear, he walked in a straight line for at least 25 km. Ryzhikov had no special military training and was not a saboteur, he is a former Russian convict, quite healthy and young, aged 36, who was forced to sign a contract in a Russian prison, where he was serving an 8-year sentence for causing grievous bodily harm and theft.

On October 13, the killer met a 60-year-old local resident fishing near a pond in the Liptsivska community. Ryzhykov immediately killed him.

Then he went to the village of Mykhailivka, where at about 4:00 p.m. he entered the nearest house without hindrance. Five soldiers of the 72nd Brigade were resting on the first floor of the house. Ryzhikov shot four of them on the first floor and the fifth on the stairs to the second floor.

The fighters of the 72nd Brigade heard the shots and rushed to help, but the killer quickly left the scene. He hid the machine gun and decided to hide in Kharkiv, hoping to pass himself off as a person who had lost his documents.

Immediately after establishing the circumstances of the attack, the command of the “Charter” corps began a search operation. The road was blocked, checkpoints were set up, patrols were set up, and drones were launched. As a result, operators of the 72nd brigade found a suspicious person who was moving not towards the front, but towards Kharkiv, and who crossed the highway near the village of Tsyrkuny. Soldiers of the 1st battalion of the 13th “Charter” brigade conducted a sweep of the area and caught the killer.
What about the reasons?

The preconditions for this tragedy have been in place for a long time. Russian assault groups try to pass every day, they are killed every day, but one of them managed to pass.

Much of the time, the famous 72nd Mechanized Brigade is fighting hard, but it doesn’t receive significant reinforcements. People are in positions for months, they get overworked, there are not enough people, and it is not at all surprising that in one of the areas an enemy soldier managed to find a gap and get through the battle formations.

All those who died in the house were worthy, experienced soldiers who worked almost continuously, because they were not given a lane to replenish. Therefore, it is not surprising that during the day people slept in the house, quite far from the front line.
I hope this tragedy will receive an appropriate response from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, M. Drapaty.

We tend to give more reinforcements and reserves to those areas where the defense is failing and everything is falling apart. And where people are doing their best not to retreat, to hold on, they believe that nothing serious is happening, and they can stop replenishing until it starts falling apart there too. These are the bitter consequences of such an approach.

I hope the murderer Ryzhikov will not be involved in any exchanges. And for the death of his comrades, the Ukrainians will repay the 1009th Regiment a hundredfold, the assault groups there have already been completely wiped out three times, but the enemy continues to replenish and advance.

This is also an important lesson – in the frontline zone, one must always understand and act in such a way that the enemy may be nearby.
Eternal glory and memory to the fallen Ukrainian heroes.

Also follow “Pryamim” on Facebook , X , Telegram , and Instagram .