Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – A Ukrainian photojournalist and soldier who accompanied him when he was killed in the first weeks of the Russian invasion appear to have been “coldly executed” as they searched Russian-occupied forests for the photographer’s missing image. takes a drone, Reporters Without Borders reported on Wednesday, citing findings from an investigation into their deaths.
The Press Freedom Group said it had returned to the site where the bodies of Max Levin and serviceman Alexei Chernyshov were found on April 1st in a forest north of the capital, Kyiv. The group said it counted 14 bullet holes in the burned body of their car, still at the scene.
The group said unused Russian positions, one of which is still trapped, were found nearby. Remains of food rations, packets of cigarettes and other rubbish found, apparently left by Russian soldiers, were also found.
Some of Levin and Chernyshov’s belongings, including the soldier’s identity documents and parts of his body armor and the photographer’s helmet, were also found, the statement said.
A Ukrainian team of metal detectors also found a bullet buried in the ground where Levin’s body lay. The group said the finding suggested that “he was probably killed by one, perhaps two, bullets fired at close range when he was already on the ground”.
A tanker with petrol was found near the place where Chernyshov’s burnt body was found, it added.
Reporters Without Borders said her findings “show that the two men were undoubtedly executed coldly.”
Levin and Chernyshov were last heard on March 13. A GPS tracker in their vehicle gave them their last position in the woods north of Kyiv, the group said.
It says Levin lost his drone in the area on March 10 and failed to recover it because it came under Russian fire. Drones have become a common tool for photojournalists to obtain aerial photos and videos.
Reporters Without Borders said Levin sometimes shared information extracted from his drone, including on Russian positions, with Ukrainian forces.
“But the use of his drone was primarily a journalistic endeavor, confirmed by those around him and shown by the images sold to the media since the beginning of the Russian invasion,” the statement said.
The group speculates that Levin may have been hunting for his drone when he and Chernyshov were killed.
The group said it had handed over evidence and dozens of photos it had collected to Ukrainian investigators.
The group said it was unable to confirm whether the men’s bodies were autopsies, a move it called important in investigating their deaths.
He also called on Ukrainian defense and intelligence agencies to provide investigators with any information they have about Russian forces that occupied the area during Moscow’s failed attack on Kyiv in the early stages of the four-month war.
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