THE heartbroken mum of a Ukrainian prisoner killed by Russian troops after declaring “glory to Ukraine” insists Vladimir Putin needs to be tried for struggle crimes towards her son.
Harrowing footage confirmed unarmed Oleksandr Matsievskyi, 42, being riddled with machine gun bullets after taking a closing drag of his cigarette.
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Oleksandr Matsievskyi was shot useless moments after saying ‘glory to Ukraine’Credit score: Katarina Romanik/Midlands Media Company
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The 42-year-old was captured by Russians on December 30Credit: Katarina Romanik/Midlands Media Company
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His mum Paraska Demchuck pictured receiving her son’s Hero of Ukraine medal from President ZelenskyCredit: Katarina Romanik/Midlands Media Company
Moments earlier than he was shot useless by Russian troopers, Matsievskyi pronounced “Slava Ukraini”, which interprets to “glory to Ukraine”.
Oleksandr’s devasted mom Paraska Demchuck, 67, informed how she watched the footage – solely to then realise the courageous soldier was her son.
Paraska, from Nizhyn in northern Ukraine, informed how she cried out in shock after seeing the final moments of her solely son.
She informed The Solar: “I used to be informed in January that Oleksandr was lacking.
“All I had been informed was that there had been a struggle with Russians and he had disappeared.
“His physique was returned in early February as a part of an alternate of the fallen troopers at that was the primary I knew of his dying.
“After which, as if from heaven, that video turned up. And I cried out ‘Sasha, Sasha’ – my title for him.
“Every little thing happened like an epiphany – I needed to know the way my son died, after which I noticed it.”
Oleksandr and 4 colleagues engaged in fight with a bigger Russian contingent close to Soledar when he was captured on December 30.
He was filmed standing tall in a shallow trench, smoking, earlier than being shot a number of occasions.
The cold-blooded capturing of Oleksandr, an electrician by commerce, is now the topic of a struggle crimes investigation.
Paraska added: “Once I noticed his look within the video, I realised there was nothing he may do. He understood this was the top.
“We as soon as made an settlement that if he was wounded and was bleeding to dying, he would name me and inform me thrice: ‘Sure, sure, sure!’
“However within the video he mentioned, ‘Glory to Ukraine!’ And God gave me the chance to listen to these phrases.”
Oleksandr, described as a hard-working, principled and chronic by his mom, signed as much as struggle as quickly because the struggle began.
She mentioned: “Sasha mentioned he couldn’t sit again.
“His grandfather defended his homeland throughout World Struggle Two. So he went to struggle with out hesitation.
“The final time I spoke with him was on December 29 – he referred to as me and mentioned I ought to decide up a bundle with a brand new uniform he had been given.
“He by no means obtained to put on it.”
President Zelensky posthumously bestowed the Hero of Ukraine medal upon the sniper and handed Paraska her son’s Hero of Ukraine award in a ceremony in Kyiv.
He described Oleksandr in a nightly handle as “’a person whom all Ukrainians will know. A person who might be remembered without end.”
‘PUTIN SHOULD FACE JUSTICE’
In Oleksandr’s hometown, Nizhyn, a plan is underway to call one of many streets after him. Additionally they need to erect a monument to the courageous soldier.
Paraska as we speak welcomed the arrest warrant slapped on Putin for alleged struggle crimes – and mentioned her son’s dying needs to be added to the record.
The Worldwide Felony Courtroom has accused the Russian tyrant of the “illegal deportation” of kids from Ukraine – a struggle crime beneath the Geneva Conference.
However Paraska hopes that Putin will at some point be referred to as to face justice over her son’s homicide.
She mentioned: “My son has grow to be an emblem of the indomitability of the Ukrainian folks and for that I’m extraordinarily proud.
“We hope and imagine that at some point he’ll bear duty for all of the struggle crimes dedicated, together with the homicide of Oleksandr.
“He’s a struggle prison and he ought to face justice.”
An investigation by The Solar into Ukraine’s lacking youngsters again in September revealed that hundreds of kids have been deported throughout Putin’s invasion.
Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, has mentioned 16,226 youngsters have been deported and the nation has managed to convey again simply 308 of them.
The Hague-based court docket has now mentioned “there are affordable grounds to imagine that Mr Putin bears particular person prison duty” for the crimes.
Ukraine hailed the arrest warrant as an “historic resolution”.
Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations of atrocities throughout its disastrous one-year invasion of Ukraine.
Regardless of the warrant, Putin as we speak broke cowl as he was noticed in Crimea.
The Russian President made an look within the disputed Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Putin’s forces in 2014.
Within the quick clip printed on the Russian social media community VK, Putin, 70, could be seen strolling stiffly together with his head bowed.
He was proven opening an artwork college and a youngsters’s centre within the port metropolis of Sevastopol.
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Paraska, 67, laying flowers at her son’s graveCredit: Katarina Romanik/Midlands Media Company