The mother of a decorated Ukrainian prisoner of war who was killed by his Russian captors has disclosed the ‘soul-crushing’ heartbreak of identifying her son in a video exhibiting his execution.
Praskovya Demchuk, 67, explained to of her distress and horror at viewing the footage of Russians gunning down her son as he declared ‘glory to Ukraine’ to his captors.
She stated her grandson, the soldier’s little one, was hysterical, screaming as he identified ‘our daddy’ in the video.
The chilly-blooded shooting of electrician Oleksandr ‘Sasha’ Matsiyevsky, 42, by Russian invaders is now the matter of a war crimes investigation.
Matsiyevsky’s system was returned to Ukraine soon after he was killed in the wake of losing get in touch with with his comrades on 30 December.
Discovered as the prisoner of war who stood tall, witnessed standing in a shallow trench, smoking, and declaring ‘glory to Ukraine’ as he was shot, Matsiyevsky has been posthumously honoured with the country’s maximum title, the Hero of Ukraine.
Praskovya Demchuk, 67, mom of Oleksandr Sasha’ Matsiyevsky reveals her agony as she viewed footage of her Hero PoW son currently being shot in cold blood for expressing ‘Glory to Ukraine’.
Zelensky awarded PoW electrician Oleksandr Matsievsky, pictured, his country’s highest honour right after he was shot in chilly blood by Russian killers right after declaring ‘Glory to Ukraine’
Matsiyevsky and 4 colleagues were being reportedly engaged in beat with a greater Russian contingent near Soledar on 30 December 2022 when he was captured.
His comrades are still lacking in motion.
Matsiyevsky’s mother, Praskovya, identified her son from a online video that appeared on social media on 6 March 2023.
The movie demonstrates the instant the person discovered as Matsiyevsky is shot a number of times by Russian captors.
He is viewed standing in a trench, smoking. Any person out of the shot suggests ‘film it’. The male cigarette smoking states ‘glory to Ukraine’ and is shot quite a few situations.
An earlier preliminary investigation by the army had proposed another Ukrainian soldier, Timofiy Shadura, 41, who had been missing considering the fact that early February, was the hero.
The SBU solution assistance then discovered the body of Matsiyevsky as the man in the video clip.
His mom experienced also discovered his overall body – right before the way he was killed was acknowledged.
‘It was in the evening. I opened my cellphone, Fb, and I seemed at Sasha [short for Oleksandr],’ she told German newspaper Bild, and Bild in Russian.
‘This is the worst shot, this is a capturing. And I…I glance and I fully grasp, it can be my son.
‘And I screamed “Sasha!” It was a shock – “Sasha!”…
‘I look at it once again and again. I stare… “Sasha! I search, it can be Sasha, it is my Sasha.”
‘And I connect with Yulia, my daughter-in-law. I despatched this to her on Viber. She appeared and stated, “of course that’s our Sasha”.
‘Mishka [his son] confirmed it as properly. That’s our dad’ – he was hysterical. That is our daddy, grandma it can be daddy. The way he smokes, the way he stands.
‘It was a horrible tantrum, it was… it was soul-crushing,’ she claimed.
‘He was crying, crying hard, just crying, sobbing into the phone….
‘[Sasha] was not going to surrender, he could not choose revenge on them. He experienced no submachine gun, no flak jacket, he was as if bare, you recognize?…
‘These were the final minutes of his everyday living. What else could he do? “Glory to Ukraine!”‘
Praskovya Demchuk explained to of how she had ‘loved’ Russia for the duration of the time period Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union.
Matsiyevsky was posthumously awarded the major honour for his service, the Hero of Ukraine
‘I went to Russia a lot of times….my son was working in Russia… It is very distressing that men and women, Russian folks, did this.
‘And I never know how much grief they brought to our people today, so several children were being still left with no mothers and fathers, without having fathers.
‘It is a terrific sorrow. I do not know if we can forgive or not…
‘They are hitting towns, residences in which tranquil men and women rest, and in an fast practically nothing is there.’
She advised Suspilne media in Ukraine that the very last time she saw her son, he ‘crossed the home, himself, and said goodbye’.
He advised her: ‘Mum, thank you for everyday living.’
An electrician in advance of the war, Oleksandr was a fighter of the 163rd battalion of the 119th independent brigade of the territorial defence of Chernihiv area.
Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of personnel, insisted: ‘There will be retribution for just about every these kinds of war crime. No-just one can hide… We will discover everybody.’
International minister Dmytro Kuleba demanded that the Intercontinental Criminal Courtroom really should launch an speedy investigation into the footage.
Praskovya Demchuck, 67, mother of Sasha Matsiyevsky, spoke of the instant she recognized her son
Electrician Oleksandr Matsievskyi, 42, was discovered as the gentleman shot by Russian captors in December in a video that circulated online previous week
Zelensky confers the maximum honour upon Oleksandr ‘Sasha’ Matsiyevsky in his nightly handle
President Zelensky claimed in his evening tackle that he experienced posthumously decorated the soldier.
‘Today I conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine upon Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, a soldier,’ he reported in his nightly tackle.
‘A gentleman whom all Ukrainians will know.
‘A man who will be remembered endlessly.
‘For his bravery, for his assurance in Ukraine and for his ‘Glory to Ukraine!’
‘Glory to the Hero, Glory to the Heroes, Glory to Ukraine.’
