"None of You Will Survive Here": Who Shot a Captured Ukrainian Soldier in Chernihiv Region

“I said: “Just don’t kill him, don’t kill him,” I begged,” recalls Liudmyla Bayeva, a resident of the village of Lukashivka. It was the day when the Russians broke into her and her husband’s house and took away a 23-year-old Ukrainian soldier whom the Bayev family had passed off as a relative.

The Russian invaders entered the village of Lukashivka in Chernihiv region on 9 March last year. The Ukrainian defenders, who were significantly outnumbered, had to retreat. Vadym Nazarov, a 23-year-old fighter with the 58th Brigade, was hiding in a local house and waiting for his comrades to pick him up. The Bayev family invented a legend for the guy, but the Russian military came for Nazarov and killed the defender in the courtyard of an old church. 

Law enforcement officers identified the person who shot the prisoner of war, and Slidstvo.Info journalists identified other invaders who may be related to the occupier. The video has English subtitles.

“WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN MY PLACE?”

The village of Lukashivka in the Chernihiv region was under occupation from 9 to 30 March 2022. For 21 days, the Russians managed to turn the lives of the locals into a tragedy. And turn the ancient church, the Church of the Ascension, into a place of execution.

On 9 March last year, Liudmyla Bayeva came across a stranger in her cellar — a Ukrainian soldier, 23-year-old Vadym Nazarov. He had come here to hide from the enemy.

Liudmyla Bayeva

“And he said: “Oh, it’s good that I’ve found someone. I’m one of yours, I’m one of yours”. And he points to the emblems on his hands to show that he is Ukrainian. He said: “I need to quickly change into civilian clothes,” says Liudmyla.

The woman took the frozen man into the house and introduced him to her husband, Yevhen. He helped her change Vadym’s clothes.

“And we gave him a bicycle. We said: “Child, come on the bike. Here’s some food for you. And go down there, our unit is there.” And he said: “No, I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be here.” We said: “Well, look, there are Russian tanks everywhere,” Liudmyla continues.

Nevertheless, Vadym was sure that they would come back for him. He called his comrades and they were to pick him up at night. Vadym wanted to save the couple as well: to take them to a safe place. While waiting for the car, he told the Bayevs about his mother, wife and child. 

“And so night came, and he was running, running, calling, calling. And the morning came, and no one took him away. He stayed there. He came into the kitchen and started eating at the table. Suddenly, the gate broke, everything broke, the gate, and 20 people jumped in with machine guns,” Liudmyla recalls.

According to her, the Russians intercepted Vadym’s phone calls and already knew where the Ukrainian soldier was hiding. 

“They grabbed Vadym and started shouting: “on your knees, on your knees”. I said, ‘This is our nephew (we agreed). ‘Documents’, they shouted, ‘documents’. I said: “We don’t have any documents”. And Vadym kept forgetting our surname and name. And then one of the Russians pulled out a knife. He put it to Vadym’s throat. I felt sick then, I felt like I was falling,” Liudmyla recalls.

The Russians took the woman into the house and searched her. When Liudmyla came out, Vadym was gone. The Russians took the boy with them.

“I was giving him a jacket, so they pulled a hood over his head. The tape was lying here on his workbench. They blindfolded him so that he could not see where they were taking him,” the woman recalls.

One of the occupants offered to take Lyudmyla’s husband Yevhen. But the man was saved by his age, he was 68 at the time, so the Russians left him at home.

Yevhen Bayev

“There was a redhead (occupant — ed.) with a moustache. He wanted to take me away because I was hiding a soldier, but they didn’t. I said to him: “What would you do in my place if your soldier was there? Would you have done the same?” “No”. I said: “Well, then we are different people. This is your defender. You have to help him out. You have to save him,” says Yevhen.

“YOU WERE SAVING, SO WE ARE SHOOTING AT YOU”

The Russians returned to the Bayevs’ house the next day. They found Vadym’s assault rifle and other belongings.

“They said: “We’re going to level you to the ground”. And on the 13th, they heard a shot, a metre away from the house. They asked the locals where the old man and woman were sleeping. They shot here. They thought they had demolished it. But we survived. Can you imagine? Well, we were wounded. Bleeding, nothing can be done. But we are alive. They said: “None of you will survive here… We are peacekeepers,” says Liudmyla.

Yevhen Bayev was seriously injured: his eye and teeth were knocked out, and his nose was broken. Doctors also removed small fragments from his head. 

“And that redhead said: ‘You see, you were saving him, so we are shooting at you’. He said that if he hadn’t saved him, none of this would have happened. But I didn’t regret it,” Yevhen recalls.

The Bayevs’ house is still a reminder of that March. In some places, there are holes from the debris. And there are still shells sticking out of the roof of the barn.

“AND THERE THEY SHOT HIM IN COLD BLOOD”

From the Bayev family, the Russians took Vadym down the street to the church. But the shelling started, so they had to seek shelter. A local resident, Nadiya, did not have a gate in front of her house. So they ran into her yard and went into the basement.

Nadiya

“We were all sitting in the cellar. In-laws, children, grandchildren. And the Russian brought a small boy, the same height as me, dressed in civilian clothes. His head was all bandaged up, and his eyes were bloodshot. His eyes were big, brown and beautiful,” Nadiya recalls.

Vadym sat down next to the women. “The in-law and I were calming him down. I told him, ‘My darling, everything will be fine,'” says Nadiya.

But when the mine attack ended, the Russians took Vadym further. Together with him, they took a teenager, Nadiya’s grandson, from the basement. 

“We begged and cried: “Don’t touch the child, don’t touch him”. And my son-in-law said: “I’ll go and be shot,” Nadiya recalls.

Vadym Nazarov, Nadiya’s grandson and his father, as well as another villager, were brought by the Russians to the church yard.

The church to which the occupiers brought people

The occupiers tortured people and imitated their execution by shooting over their heads. But they did something different with Vadym.

“They shot this child in cold blood. In front of my grandson. He said: ‘Grandma, they  left him under the KAMAZ truck’. And he was lying there, poor thing, until the 30th of the month, when our people came,” Nadiya said.

Liudmyla and Yevhen learned about Vadym’s shooting after the village was liberated. Their son recognised his jacket in one of the videos and called his parents. 

“We were with him for a day, just a day… And I feel so sorry for Vadym. 23 years old, a boy. I still have him alive somewhere. The main thing is that we cannot bring him back from that land. It’s a pity,” Liudmyla holds back her tears.

WHO SHOT?

Investigators have identified the commander of the battalion of the 74th motorised rifle brigade of the Russian army who shot Vadim Nazarov. It is 30-year-old Danil Alegovich Koblik, a native of the Kemerovo oblast of the Russian Federation. 

Danil has been fighting against Ukraine from the very beginning — since 2014 as part of the 74th Motorised Rifle Brigade. He is currently the commander of one of the battalions that occupied Lukashivka last year.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers accuse Koblik of torturing civilians and killing a prisoner of war. The case is already being considered in absentia.

Slidstvo.Info journalists tried to contact Koblik, but his wife Alyona has both his phones. 

“Yes, it’s his wife, but he’s currently in the ‘SIZO’. We can’t reach him in any way,” replied Alyona Koblik. After that, the woman deleted and blocked the journalists’ number in the messenger. 

Slidstvo.Info journalists have identified other Russian soldiers from the 74th Brigade who are possibly involved in war crimes and are familiar with Koblik.  These soldiers are currently fighting against Ukraine.

31-year-old Vitaliy Makarov, also from Yurga, Kemerovo oblast. Although the man covered his face with a balaclava, journalists identified him and found old photos on the Russian social network VKontakte.

In the documents to which journalists have access, Makarov’s phone number is signed as Koblik’s. Vitaliy has friends in common with him on social media. 

Vitaliy Makarov confirmed that he is still a member of the 74th Motorised Rifle Brigade.

Another Russian soldier who also confirmed to journalists that he serves in the 74th Brigade is Alexander Korkin. On his page, he posts photos proving his participation in the war against Ukraine. 

The journalists showed some of the photos of the occupiers to the residents of Lukashivka village. Nadiia recognised Koblik in the photo from 2014. Makarov and Korkin were identified later, and the villagers were unable to see their photos. Therefore, it is still unknown who exactly was with Danil Koblik during the shooting.

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The material has been prepared with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative “European Renaissance of Ukraine”. The material represents the position of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or the International Renaissance Foundation.