KYIV: A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier who accompanied him when he was killed in the first weeks of the Russian invasion appear to have been “cold-killed” as they search for a Russian-occupied drone to take the photographer’s missing image. were exploring the woodlands, Reporters Without Borders said on Wednesday, citing the findings of the investigation into their deaths.
The press freedom group said it went back to the place where Muxo’s bodies were. thunderbolt and servants oleksey chernyshov were found on April 1 in the forest north of the capital, Kyiv, The group said it counted 14 bullet holes in the charred hull of their car still at the scene.
The group said unused Russian positions, one of them still bobby-trapped, were found nearby. Remnants of food rations, cigarette packets and other rubbish left behind by Russian soldiers were also found.
It said some belongings of Levin and Chernyshov, including the soldier’s identity card and parts of a bulletproof vest and the photographer’s helmet, were also recovered.
A Ukrainian team with metal detectors also uncovered a bullet buried in the soil where Levin’s body was lying. The group said the finding suggests that “he was probably killed with one, perhaps two shots fired at close range when he was already on the ground.”
It said that a jerrycan for gasoline was also found near the place where Chernyshov’s charred body was recovered.
Reporters Without Borders said its findings “show that the two men were undoubtedly executed in a cold-blooded manner.”
Levine and chernyshov Last heard on 13 March. A GPS The tracker in his vehicle made his last location in the forest north of Kyiv, the group said.
It said Levin lost his drone in the area on March 10 and could not recover it as it came under Russian fire. Drones have become a common tool for photojournalists to obtain aerial photographs and videos.
Reporters Without Borders said Levin sometimes shared information obtained from his drone about Russian positions with Ukrainian forces.
“But his use of drones was first and foremost a journalistic attempt, confirmed by his crew and shown by images sold to the media since the start of the Russian invasion,” it said.
The group speculated that Levin may have been hunting down his drone when he and Chernyshov were killed.
The group said it had handed over the evidence it collected and dozens of photos to Ukrainian investigators.
The group said it was unable to confirm whether post-mortems had been conducted on the bodies of the men – a step that is needed to investigate their deaths.
It also appealed to Ukrainian defense and intelligence agencies to provide investigators with whatever information they can about Russian units that occupied the area during Moscow’s failed attack on Kyiv in the early stages of the four-month war.
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