Even before the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kiev, he spoke in an interview about the war crimes he had seen, the BBC’s Russia editorial staff wrote on its website.

The interview, which was given between 16 and 28 March, was not previously published by the BBC because it was unable to verify what was said. Following the Russian withdrawal, numerous images from Bucha appeared in the world media proving that Shirobokov’s testimony matched that of a large number of people from around Kyiv. War crimes can definitely be confirmed with a full investigation of the events mentioned.

The unit that Artťom was in went to the town of Vorzel, which is located about 2.5 kilometers from Buč. These cities were attacked by Russian troops coming from Belarus via Chernobyl.

“We fought. The group broke up into small groups,” recalls Shirobokov. “I and several other soldiers, while looking for an advantageous place, entered the enemy’s side. We lost contact with the commander. The Russians completely disabled the connection. We had to go to our village through two villages controlled by the Russians (Vorzel and Buča),” he said .

En route from the siege, Artőm and his comrades buried their weapons and changed into civilian clothes, but they were still briefly arrested in Buča. In this city, according to Artom, Russian soldiers created a prison camp, where they also detained local men.

“Earlier, an old man from our group (captives) was shot in the leg, and that’s why no one got up on the street … But almost on the spot, someone started shooting at our group. “They all scattered around the yard and initially ran past fence into the depths of Buča, to then try to bypass the Russian troop concentration near Irpina and return to Kyiv,” he said.

Artťom said that he was arrested on the Jablonská street in Buč. It was captured not by Kadyrov (Chechens), but by paratroopers or scouts with Slavic features. They wanted to hand over the prisoners to the Russian National Guard.

The soldiers judged the prisoners at random, they were especially interested in people with tattoos, which Artyom lacked. Shirobokov explained that while he was briefly arrested on March 4, the Russians had only shot one elderly man before his eyes. But when they were herded into the prison camp, they “walked down a street littered with the corpses of those they now show in pictures,” he claimed.

In the end, it took Artőm four days to break out of the encirclement. When he returned to the capital, he began to plan in which unit he would continue to fight for Ukraine. He also created a Google.doc document describing his adventures and sent the link to journalists he knew. After the departure of the Russian troops from Buča, the testimonies of local residents published in the world’s largest media turned out to be very similar to the story of Artom.

“If people go to demonstrations in Kherson and Melitopol, it is because relations with the world work there. In the cities I traveled through, there was no mobile connection and no Internet, and everything looked completely different,” Artťom described walking out of the siege.

“They shoot civilians. For fun. For your satisfaction. Regardless of age and gender. The road I took to the prison camp was filled with the corpses of grandparents. They wanted to visit their neighbors, went to find water, ran out of food… No problem. Bodies are lying every ten meters,” he said.

“The population really hates Russia. My Russian accent makes people very angry when I talk to them. Because Russia organized genocide against them in 2022. There is not a single person who doesn’t think Russia is a monster. I hope the war ends, so they stop killing Ukrainian children, bombing peaceful cities. Russians long for the end of the war so they can eat hamburgers and buy bedside tables at Ikea. We are different. I didn’t know how it should end so I stopped hating them.” Artťom.

Shirobokov continues to serve in the Ukrainian armed forces. “There is a counterattack happening now. Given the scale and power that Russia has thrown against Ukraine, I believe Ukraine is victorious. Both on the front and in terms of information. Big cities like Kyiv and Kharkiv are standing and will not fall,” he said.

He has been fighting on the side of Ukraine since 2014. He disagrees with the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Now I am going to war as a citizen of Ukraine. I am defending my country, which has been attacked by Russia and its criminal regime,” he said.

Buča, Vorzel and Irpiň are the nearest suburbs of Kyiv, which were occupied by Russian troops in the first days of the war after landing at the Antonov airport in Hostomel. Simultaneously with the landing, Russian troops tried to attack Kyiv from Chernobyl through these villages.

The occupation of the Kiev suburbs lasted more than a month, until Russian troops withdrew to Belarus and left the Kiev region.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov and the Russian Ministry of Defense deny Russian involvement in the killing of civilians in Buch. The images and videos of the crime released by the Russian army were described as provocation by the ministry, saying that “not a single civilian has suffered” while the city was controlled by the Russian army.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described what happened in Buch as a farce, the BBC added.