Videos Surface to Support Claims of Attacks on Civilians

BBC and 'Wall Street Journal' have separate investigations
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 12, 2022 5:47 PM CDT
Videos Surface to Support Claims of Attacks on Civilians
A woman cries while waiting along with others for the distribution of food in the village of Motyzhyn, Ukraine, on April 3. The village was until recently under the control of the Russian military.   (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Two news outlets are out with separate accounts alleging Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Both stories are backed up by video, but note that the contents may be disturbing to watch:

  • Bicycle shop: The BBC has CCTV footage that it says "clearly shows" Russian soldiers shooting two unarmed Ukrainians in the back and then looting the bicycle shop in Kiev where the shootings took place. One victim died instantly. The other, 65-year-old Leonid Pliats, who worked as a security guard at the shop, survived long enough to call friends for help. By the time they arrived and were able to enter the shop, however, Pliats was dead. The footage has been turned over to Ukrainian prosecutors, who are investigating it as a possible war crime.

  • Deadly road: The Wall Street Journal has a video investigation into "how a four-mile stretch of road became one of the most blatant examples in the war of Russian soldiers attacking civilians attempting to flee." The piece includes clips of civilian cars being fired upon as they traveled on the road from Motyzhyn to Yasnohorodka near Kiev. One person who survived the escape route referred to it as the "road of death." Police tallied about 40 deaths on that stretch of road in March, though the Journal notes the actual toll is likely higher.
(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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