Even before the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kiev, he spoke in an interview about the war crimes he saw, 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 could not verify what was said. After the withdrawal of Russian troops, many pictures of Bucha appeared in the world media which prove that Shirobokov’s account corresponds to the testimony of a large number of people from around Kyiv. War crimes can definitely be confirmed by a full investigation of the events mentioned.

The unit where Artťom found himself went to the town of Vorzel, which was about 2.5 kilometers from Buč. These cities were attacked by Russian soldiers who came from Belarus via Chernobyl.

“We fought. The group split into small groups,” recalls Shirobokov. “Me and several other soldiers, while looking for a vantage point, got into the enemy’s flank. We lost contact with the commander. Russia completely disabled the connection. We had to get to our village via two villages controlled by Russia (Vorzel and Buča),” he said. .

On the way from the siege, Artőm and his companions buried their weapons and changed into civilian clothes, but they were still briefly captured in Buča. In this city, according to Artom, Russian soldiers set up prison camps, where they also detained local people.

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

Artťom said he was arrested on Jablonska street in Bu. It was caught not by the Kadyrovs (Chechens), but by paratroopers or scouts with Slavic features. They want to turn the prisoners over to the Russian National Guard.

They shoot civilians. For fun. For your satisfaction. Regardless of age and gender.

The soldiers judged the prisoners randomly, they were mainly interested in the ones with tattoos, which Artyom didn’t have. Shirobokov explained that when he was briefly arrested on March 4, Russia only shot one old man in front of his eyes. But when they were taken to the prison camp, they were “walking down the street littered with the bodies of the people they now show in the pictures,” he claims.

In the end, it took Artőm four days to break out of the siege. 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 a link to the document 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 Artom’s story.

“If people go to demonstrations in Kherson and Melitopol, it’s because of the connection with the world working there. In the cities I went through, there was no cellular or internet connection, and everything looked very different,” Artťom describes the journey from the siege.

“They shoot at civilians. For fun. For your satisfaction. Regardless of age and gender. My path to the prison camp is littered with bodies of grandmothers and grandfathers. They want to visit their neighbors, look for water, run out of food… No problem. Corpses lying every ten meters,” he said.

“People really hate Russia. My Russian accent makes people very angry when I talk to them. Because Russia organized a genocide against them in 2022. There isn’t a single person who doesn’t think of Russia as a monster. I hope the war ends, so they stop killing Ukrainian children, bombing peaceful cities. Russians yearn for the end of the war so they can eat hamburgers and buy bedside tables at Ikea. We are different. I don’t know how it will end so I stopped hating them.” added 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 that Ukraine wins. Both on the front and on the information front. Big cities like Kyiv and Kharkiv stand up and won’t fall,” he was sure. .

He fought on the side of Ukraine in early 2014. He disagreed with the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Now I go to war as a citizen of Ukraine. I defend my country, which has been attacked by Russia and its criminal regime,” he said.

Buča, Vorzel and Irpi are nearby suburbs of Kyiv, which were occupied by Russian troops in the first days of the war after landing at Antonov airport in Hostomel. At the same time as the landings, Russian troops tried to attack Kyiv from Chernobyl through these villages.

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

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

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