According to official statistics from the Office of the Prosecutor General, 93 Ukrainian defenders have been executed on the battlefield since the full-scale Russian invasion. Currently, only one of these cases is being heard in court with a Russian soldier as the defendant. Previously, all similar cases were tried in absentia. 26-year-old Dmitry “Stalker” Kurashov, a member of the Storm V unit, is currently on trial for the alleged murder of a Ukrainian soldier. If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment.
Slidstvo.Info journalists managed to speak with the Russian soldier suspected of killing the Ukrainian fighter. The video has English subtitles.
“I WANTED TO BECOME AN HONEST PERSON, THEY PROMISED TO CLEAR MY CRIMINAL RECORD”
Dmitry “Stalker” Kurashov is 26 years old and hails from the town of Gremyachinsk in Russia’s Perm Krai, over 2,300 kilometers from the alleged crime scene — where he executed Ukrainian serviceman Vitaliy Hodniuk of the 127th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces.
Dmitry “Stalker” Kurashov, 26, a soldier of the Storm V unit / Photo: Taras Fedorenko
In January 2024, fighters of the 127th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces in Zaporizhzhia Oblast managed to capture Dmitry and the rest of his assault group.
The Russian soldier claims that he had only been in Ukraine for a month before being captured. Dmitry Kurashov has two criminal convictions—for assaulting a police officer and theft. He joined the Storm V unit from prison, where he was serving his sentence.
Slidstvo.Info: How did you end up on the front? How were you offered this, and why did you decide to go to war?
Dmitry “Stalker” Kurashov: They promised me a “clean slate”, the removal of my criminal record, and the “cleansing” of all my documents. That’s why I agreed — I wanted to become an honest person. They said they needed people to unload boxes, carry crates, and repair equipment. That’s what I agreed to.
Did you know that the Storm V units are assault units?
They said they didn’t need assault troops, that they had already recruited people. We believed them and went. Only those who could do physical work went; no one could even imagine that they would have to take up arms. But when we arrived, they told us: “Welcome! You are now part of the Storm V assault units. You are now assault troops.” Training began. After that, they sent us closer to the front line.
We, convicts, are used as meat, they are cleaning up the prisons in Russia. They sent us, trained us for a month, then sent us to storm, put us all down, and brought in new ones. There are no people left in the prison. More than 1,500 people are taken away every month — from one colony alone. And now they are taking them from all the colonies. Prisons are being cleared out. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin promised to clean up the prisons by 2025 so that there would be no inmates left in prisons. So he is fulfilling his promise.
What was the training like before you were sent to the front? What did they manage to teach you?
We were taught shooting, grenade throwing, digging trenches, and nothing more.
During the training or when you were already given orders before combat missions, were you told about the treatment of prisoners of war?
Initially, they said that prisoners of war should be taken: “Take them, tie them with rifle straps or belt straps, and sit them so that they are visible, as a ‘human shield’ so that flying quadcopters do not attack you.”
They also said: “We don’t need prisoners, we have a lot. Put them all down.”
In both cases, the Russian soldier claims he does not remember the names, call signs, or ranks of the soldiers who advised killing Ukrainian prisoners of war or using them as human shields.
“HE HAD ALREADY DROPPED HIS RIFLE WHEN HE WAS SHOT”
The killing of Ukrainian prisoner of war Vitaliy Hodniuk took place in January 2024 near the village of Novodarivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Dmitry Kurashov himself does not admit guilt and tells a different version of events. Allegedly, another Russian soldier with the call sign “Sedoy” shot the Ukrainian soldier. He was a medic in their assault group.
However, Slidstvo.Info has testimonies from the rest of the captured members of this Russian assault group, according to which, at the time of the Ukrainian soldier’s execution, “Sedoy,” whom “Stalker” accuses, was already seriously wounded or dead.
Dmitry “Stalker” Kurashov, 26, a soldier of the Storm V unit / Photo: Taras Fedorenko
Slidstvo.Info: How many of you went to assault the Ukrainian positions?
Dmitry “Stalker” Kurashov: There were 18 of us on the assault. I don’t know, but it seems that everyone was a private. There were important things there—money, documents, alcohol, cigarettes. Everyone was thinking about their addictions and habits, not about dying here.
Describe your version of events. How did the capture of the Ukrainian positions and the episode with the killing of the unarmed Ukrainian fighter happen?
I wanted to throw a grenade into the dugout, but they told me that there were still people there. When the soldier came out, he also dropped his rifle, had his hands up, and walked forward half a meter. He had a wound in the temple area. He turned around, and was told, “Turn back, walk toward me”. He made a turn, did not obey the command to approach, and they opened fire on him with a rifle. After that, he fell. I asked, “Why did you do that? We needed them alive, so we had a human shield.” And they replied that they just did their job.
Who shot the Ukrainian soldier? Was he also taken prisoner?
The medic (a Russian from the same Storm V unit with the call sign “Sedoy”) opened fire. I couldn’t do anything. He was allegedly ‘200’ (killed in action) as a quadcopter killed him. He was never found.
Do you understand why your comrade shot a human?
He told me: “I did my job, what else could I do? I couldn’t treat him, I had no bandages, nothing.”
“IF WE WERE FIGHTING PEOPLE, NOT DRONES, MAYBE I WOULD HAVE GONE AGAIN”
Dmitry “Stalker” Kurashov, 26, a soldier of the Storm V unit / Photo: Taras Fedorenko
You said you don’t consider Ukrainians enemies, but you went to war. How do you explain that?
Well, I joined to live without a criminal record, to get a job, and to avoid being told that I can’t be a normal person. I didn’t want to take up arms and go kill. I wanted to help, repair vehicles, and work somehow. But it turned out otherwise.
Do you regret going to war?
No.
Are you proud that you served this short time in the Russian army?
Yes, probably. At least I changed my bad life somehow. It seems to me that a soldier is cleaner, damn it, than a convict.
Do you think you will be exchanged?
I very much hope so. I thought I would make money, survive, do my year, come home, and start living normally. I would be a clean person, get a job…
How do you see your life going forward?
Very gloomy, very hard life ahead to be honest. I don’t see anything else. I’m disabled now. What kind of life is that? There will be no life ahead…
Don’t you think that after returning to Russia, you will be sent to the front again?
No, they won’t send me. I have an injury, and they don’t send such people. Only voluntarily.
Would you go again yourself?
Only under the influence of drugs. You have to be a drugged-up junkie to go back. We’re fighting quadcopters, flying robots. If we were fighting people, of course, you could do it with a clear conscience, but with flying birds or whatever? You have to be a strung-out addict or a psycho to go back.
