In April 2022, when Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv region, the world saw the horrifying footage of the Zhytomyr Highway. Dozens of Ukrainian civilians, mostly Kyiv residents, tried to escape from the bombing of the capital and its suburbs using this road and to flee to the western part of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Russian military set up positions along the highway and fired at civilian cars. Dozens of Ukrainians, adults and children, were killed on the Zhytomyr Highway those days.
45-year-old Oleksandr Stepanchenko was driving from Kyiv to Irpin in March 2022 to hand over the keys to his two cars to the Territorial Defence fighters of Irpin. However, he never reached his destination. Ten days later, the man’s family had to identify the remains of his burned body. Oleksandr was killed by the occupiers with a shot to the head.
Slidstvo.Info has recreated the circumstances of that day step by step and learned the details of Oleksandr Stepanchenko’s death. The journalists managed to obtain unique audio interceptions, photos and videos, and the testimony of a Russian officer who was deployed on the Zhytomyr Highway and knows who of his comrades could have shot Oleksandr.
After the screening, there will be a discussion — “How can Russians be made to take responsibility for the crimes they’ve committed?”
Speakers:
Vlada Kobko, author of the film
Anna Babinets, founding editor of Slidstvo.Info
Nastya Stanko, editor-in-chief of Slidstvo.Info
Volodymyr Yavorskyi, programme director at the Centre for Civil Liberties
Slidstvo.Info is an investigative journalism agency founded in 2012 and based in Kyiv. Since 2018, the agency has been making investigative documentaries (20 films have been created so far), tackling the subjects of crime, organised crime, human rights, and, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the war crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine.
The agency’s films have received Ukrainian and international journalism awards: Investigative Reporters and Editors Award (USA, 2018), DIG Award 2018 (Italy, 2018), National Investigative Journalism Competition (Ukraine, 2020), Honour of the Profession Prize (Ukraine, 2021).
Filmography: Vika’s Last Task (2025), Do Not Capture: Russians Systematically Execute Ukrainian Prisoners of War (2024), #HeToo: Stories of Ukrainian Men Hurt by Russians (2024), Occupation: The Price of the Word (2023), Escaping Russians: A Story of Rescuing Kidnapped Ukrainian Girls (2023), Handziuk: Systemic Murder (2019).
Content warning: depiction of war
