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.
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