Kyiv:

Ukraine’s SBU safety companies on Sunday confirmed the identification of a Ukrainian soldier killed by a hail of bullets, in an execution video that went viral.

SBU investigators named the soldier as 42-year-old Oleksandr Igorovich Matsievsky, a sniper with the 163rd battalion of the territorial defence brigade within the Chernihiv area in northeastern Ukraine.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Matsievsky’s “bravery” in his day by day tackle, awarding the soldier the Hero of Ukraine title.

President Zelensky mentioned Matsievsky was “a soldier, an individual who will likely be remembered perpetually” by Ukrainians.

The soldier’s identification had been unclear, with conflicting statements from the army, which initially named two completely different servicemen.

The video footage seems to indicate a detained Ukrainian combatant standing in a shallow trench being shot lifeless by a number of automated weapons after saying “Glory to Ukraine”.

In response to the regional division of the Northern part of the Ukrainian armed forces, Moldova-born Matsievsky had been taken prisoner with 4 different Ukrainian troopers within the area of Donetsk.

In current days, his mom had confirmed her son’s identification in a tv report.

The SBU mentioned it recognized Matsievsky based mostly on “communication with relations of the deceased, evaluation of photographs and movies and the forensic medical examination”.

“He’s a real hero who, even within the face of loss of life, has proven the entire world the character and the way indomitable Ukrainians are,” SBU chief Vasyl Malyouk mentioned in a press launch.

Malyouk added that the Ukrainian safety companies have been working to determine the Russian troopers who “dedicated this bloody crime”.

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