According to the newspaper Financial Times, the execution of six Ukrainians likely involved a soldier from the 30th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, Oleg Yakovlev, with the call sign «Sara». In January of this year, Yakovlev posted a video of the execution on his YouTube channel, which he later deleted.
The footage shows a Russian soldier in a hood ordering unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war to walk towards a pile of logs. After this, the soldier who gave the order and his comrades shoot the six Ukrainians in the back at close range. Russian soldiers address the person in the hood by the call sign «Sara». Yakovlev uses this call sign for himself in another video posted on his channel, writes FT.
Yakovlev told journalists that he had no involvement in the executions of prisoners, but added that the unknown person in the video «killed these guys for a reason».
As established by «Agency»*, soldier Oleg Yakovlev served in the unit for former prisoners «Storm-Z», he was convicted at least twice (for drugs and theft), the last case was brought to court less than a month before the invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian investigators have launched an investigation into the execution. According to them, the 30th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, which Putin awarded the title «Guards» for «bravery and heroism», is involved in numerous war crimes, including executions on the battlefield.
The Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine, Dmytro Lubinets, reported to «Ukrainian Pravda» in December that over three years of war, «177 cases of execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war have been confirmed», 109 of them in 2024.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».