Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Denys Shmyhal said.
The approval marks a key step in international efforts to hold Moscow accountable for what is considered the gravest violation of international law committed against Ukraine.
The bodies of a woman in her early 50s and her son lay near their house in Vablya, a village near Andriivka in Kyiv Oblast, where they were killed in March while the village was under Russian occupation. The photo was taken on April 14, 2022. (Asami Terajima/The Kyiv Independent)
Months after the Russian military retreated from Kyiv Oblast, a 21-year-old Russian soldier confessed to killing a civilian man in the then-occupied village of Andriivka on March 12 by order of his commander.
Speaking to a journalist from Russia-focused investigative news site iStories, Daniil Frolkin confessed to committing atrocities during his service as part of the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, stationed in Andriivka at the time.
iStories published an investigative report on Aug. 15, revealing the war crimes committed in Andriivka in detail.
Andriivka, a small village located on the road from the Belarussian border to Kyiv, was among dozens of settlements near the capital seized by Russian forces in the early stage of the full-scale invasion. Moscow’s military quickly captured Andriivka on Feb. 27, terrorizing civilians and destroying houses before soldiers eventually withdrew in early April.
Frolkin, who the investigation describes as a poorly-trained soldier, told iStories reporters he could not remember the face of the man who he shot in March because he was in shock at the time.
He also revealed the names of commanders who he blamed for the atrocities and confessed to committing other crimes, such as stealing personal belongings from the civilian population.
According to the information gathered by iStories, the young Russian most likely killed a civilian man named Ruslan Yaremchuk, who is survived by his small son and wife Oksana.
Though Frolkin couldn’t remember the exact date of his crime, his description of his commander ordering him and his fellow soldiers to look for three local men matched an incident that took place on March 12, the investigation reveals.
Local testimonies collected by iStories pointed to the murder of Yaremchuk and two other men, Vadim Ganyuk and Vitaly Kibukevich on March 12. Frolkin told iStories that he showed a photo of the murder victim to another man who was part of the group of Russian soldiers hunting for the three men. The man confirmed it was Yaremchuk that Frolkin shot.
Frolkin told iStories that he was under the impression Yaremchuk was giving away information about the Russian military to Ukrainian sources.
Dmytry Danilov, the only other Russian soldier of the brigade with whom iStories managed to have a conversation, said that he and his colleagues were engaged in “a constant search for people who gave out (Russian) coordinates” during the occupation of Andriivka.
But he claims he wasn’t involved in the killings of civilians in the then-occupied village and doesn’t know anything about people being shot there.
Danilov said that as far as he knows, captured civilians suspected of sharing information with Ukrainian sources were taken as prisoners and handed over to superior authorities.
Frolkin said that he left his home in Russia for a military exercise in Belarus on Jan. 11, not knowing that he would later be going into Ukraine. He is now back in Russia.
In its report, iStories has also published the names of four Russian soldiers, including Frolkin and Danilov, who are believed to have committed atrocities in Andriivka. Local testimonies suggest the soldiers were involved in looting, torturing, and murders.
The report says that what helped in finding their identities was a phone left behind by Russian soldiers at a woman’s house, which contained photos of themselves posing for “a photo shoot.” The photos show Russian soldiers posing with their weapons and wearing stolen medals on their chests.
Danilov later asked iStories to send one of the photos that he took with a fellow Russian soldier in a local resident’s house uninvited.
The report says at least 13 civilians were killed and more than 40 others are still missing in Andriivka.
After Russian troops left the oblast, evidence of summary executions, torture and systematic looting during the weeks of occupation in northwest areas of Kyiv Oblast came to light.
As of Aug. 5, a total of 1,349 civilians were killed in Kyiv Oblast after Russian forces withdrew from the region, and Kyiv Oblast Police Chief Andriy Nebytov said in July that at least 700 of them were fatally shot with small arms.
Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military issues, front-line developments, and politics. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured in the Media Development Foundation’s “25 under 25: Young and Bold” 2023 list of emerging media makers in Ukraine.
