Colleagues of the executed Oleksandr Matsiyevsky told how he was captured

Ukrainian prisoner of war Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, who was shot after saying "Glory to Ukraine!", was surrounded during a surprise attack by Russian troops near Bakhmut. During that attack, Russian troops advanced in waves, stepping over the bodies of their soldiers.

Source. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, which spoke with colleagues and the mother of Matzievsky.

Details. Matzievsky's brigade was transferred from Chernihiv region to Donetsk region in early December. Before he left, he brought his mother a bouquet of flowers and a cake and said he was going to the front line. According to his mother, at the beginning of the war, she persuaded her son not to join the terrorist defense, but "he was determined." On December 8, Matsiyevsky was already near Bakhmut.

On the morning of December 30, Matsievsky and 15 other people went to the forest belt near the village of Chervona Hora near Bakhmut to support the Ukrainian army tank brigade that was defending the north of the city.

The brigade began digging trenches, but after 15 minutes came under mortar fire from the Russian army. Then the Russian offensive began. According to Sergeant Vasyl Zamola, who served in the same brigade, the attack came in waves: Russian soldiers walked over the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Matsiyevsky and four other soldiers were cut off from the main group. The brigade held the line all day. In the evening, the order was given to retreat – the night vision devices the soldiers had did not allow them to continue fighting.

Presumably, it was then that Maciejewski was captured and then shot. The publication was unable to find out when and where he died.

According to members of Matsiyevsky's brigade, they immediately recognized their comrade-in-arms in a video that went viral in early March. In the video, a Ukrainian prisoner of war says "Glory to Ukraine," after which shots are heard, the man falls down, and a voiceover says "die, bitch." Initially, the Armed Forces identified him as soldier Tymofiy Shadura, but on March 12, the SBU found that the deceased was a sniper with the 163rd Battalion of the 119th Separate Terrorist Defense Brigade, Oleksandr I. Matsievsky. He volunteered for the terrorist defense at the beginning of the war: his brigade was operating in Chernihiv region. Matsievskyi lived in the city of Nizhyn, 100 kilometers from Chernihiv, with his mother.

Two other soldiers who were at the position with Matzievsky were killed. Two more are still missing, the WSJ reports.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky posthumously awarded Matsiyevskyy the title of Hero of Ukraine.