this march 3rd video shows civilian
vehicles being fired on while fleeing
the occupied ukrainian village of
motesian
located outside of kiev between motijin
and yazna haradka a roughly four mile
stretch of road served as a crucial but
perilous escape route from incoming
russian forces
local police said 37 civilians died here
between late february and the end of
march
the wall street journal analyzed videos
photos
messages posted to social media and
weapon debris we interviewed multiple
people in the village and reviewed phone
calls between residents
we didn't account for all of the deaths
but we found evidence from a few key
incidents that give a window into how a
four mile stretch of road became one of
the most blatant examples in the war of
russian soldiers attacking civilians
attempting to flee
one man who made it through the road in
march yuri supranenko recalled the
horror
there are three main routes in and out
of motion during the first week of the
war the two roads to the north became
the site of many civilian killings as
they tried to flee russian forces
pushing south
many motion residents turned to a road
running southeast toward the village of
yazna haradka in hopes of getting to
places free of russian troops but this
southern route would become just as
perilous throughout the month the
stretch of road closer to yazna haradka
is where many civilians were attacked
on march 3rd a caravan of three
evacuating vehicles were fired on here
weapons experts say that the two
projectiles seen in these videos are
likely mortar and appear from the left
of the frame
indicating that they were likely shot
from the northeast side of the road just
east of motion which a driver in one of
these vehicles confirmed
in april we found debris on the same
stretch of road that experts say is from
an 82 millimeter or 120 millimeter
mortar
because of the shape of the tail fin
and the markings seen here
these types of mortars can be fired from
roughly two to five miles away
we found evidence of heavy russian
military activity in that range
throughout the month
in a march 5th recording shared with the
wall street journal yuri supernanko who
was still in motesian at the time called
in a russian firing location in this
area to a member of the volunteer
ukrainian military
just to the west of the firing location
supernanko reported we can see russian
vehicles in a drone video from late
march
in a forested area just north of the
russian vehicles in early april the wall
street journal saw more evidence of
russian troops
a mass grave
and military badges from the 37th
guard's motor rifle brigade
residents also said russian troops fired
on cars from positions close to the road
the russian embassy in washington dc
didn't respond to requests for comment
the kremlin has said previously it is
not targeting civilians
on march 7th a message posted in a
motion telegram group warned of a
roadblock
that same day a civilian named oleg
moscalenko who was traveling towards
motijin was taken captive at a
checkpoint according to his daughter
his car was left on the road
rocks likely used to block the road are
visible in videos filmed in the days
that followed moscolenko's friends and
family used the find my phone tool to
track his phone
the last coordinates point to a line of
trees along the road
moscalenko's daughter said that he was
questioned about being a member of the
ukrainian forces and beaten he was
eventually released by the russians and
is now recovering in a german hospital
we can still see oleg's car on the road
in a march 10th video filmed by evacuees
we also see another car abandoned nearby
suggesting more civilians were captured
or fled
on march 16th a news video shows a third
car that's been abandoned a damaged red
station wagon with a white cloth tied to
a side mirror and a sign in the
windshield that reads children in
russian and ukrainian
near the vehicle ukrainian soldiers
discover the dead body of a local man
facebook messages reveal that a woman
driving in the car was rescued and taken
to the hospital with injuries we were
unable to determine whether she
ultimately survived
what yuri supernanko describes in the
march 17th video after his escape speaks
to the lasting toll of russian brutality
on the road
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