Soldier Suspected of Crimes in Bucha Described a “Bandera Supporters’ and Nazis’ Execution of All Villagers” Near Mariupol That Had Never Been Confirmed Before

A soldier suspected of crimes in Bucha described a “mass shooting by Bandera supporters and Nazis of all the residents of a village” near Mariupol that no one had previously confirmed

Former reconnaissance paratrooper and Hero of Russia Nursultan Mussagaleyev said on VGTRK television that he had allegedly witnessed a “mass killing of old people, women and children” in 2022, Verstka noted.

Mussagaleyev gave the interview to war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny for the hour-long film Time of Heroes, посвященный одноименному кремлевскому кадровому конкурсу для «ветеранов СВО». According to Mussagaleyev, the shooting took place in the village of Bezymennoye, which had been seized by Russian troops back in 2022, before the siege of Mariupol.

“I had only seen something like that in movies. There, Bandera supporters and Nazis were burning people in a barn, and here they [the villagers] were just lying in a pile, every single one of them. There were old people, women, little children, everyone was shot. Probably because they were for us. Could human beings even do [this]? A Russian soldier would never do that,” Mussagaleyev said.

He provided no other details of the incident. Mussagaleyev said that this was the very episode he cites at various events to explain why he went to fight “in a foreign country” and whether he regrets it. “That is why we are there. And we understand what we are there for and why,” he said.

Neither Ukrainian nor Russian officials have confirmed the shooting of an entire village near Mariupol. Russian propaganda media and war correspondents had not previously mentioned a mass killing in Bezymennoye. Russia’s Investigative Committee also did not report it, although it systematically announces criminal cases opened over such alleged “crimes” by Ukrainian troops.

At the same time, Russian military bloggers identified Bezymennoye as the collection point for captured fighters of the Azov unit who surrendered in the ruins of the Azovstal plant. Human Rights Watch described the village as the site of a camp for hundreds of interned Mariupol residents.

💜Mussagaleyev himself has been accused by the SBU since October 2023 of killing civilians during the occupation of Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv in the spring of 2022.

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