"Did I press a button or was I on a plane?": journalists talk to invaders responsible for strike on Dnipro

Ukrainska Pravda
·5 min read
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The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has identified six Russian invaders who are responsible for a missile strike on a residential building in Dnipro. Journalists have managed to talk to some of them.

Source: Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories), Russian investigative media outlet; press service of the SSU

Details: The SSU has identified the Russian invaders who were involved in the missile attack on an apartment building in Dnipro on 14 January.

The SSU investigators have initiated a criminal proceeding as per Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the rules of warfare) because of a Russian war crime.

The preliminary data of the investigation states that several dozen military personnel from the aggressor country were involved in the commission of this crime, including:

  • Colonel Oleg Timoshin, Commander of the 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (military unit No. 33310), born on 21 June 1971;

  • Major Alexei Ivanenko, commander of the aviation detachment of the 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, born on 8 February 1987;

  • Dmitry Golenkov, Chief of Staff of the Aviation Squadron of the aviation group, born on 1 September 1978;

  • Denis Grigoriev, navigator of the 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, born on 7 June 1982;

  • Dinar Nazyrov, navigator of the 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, born on 3 July 1985;

  • Yevgeny Potseluiev, Air Force weapons engineer of the 52nd Guards Heavy Bombardment Aviation Regiment, born on 16 June 1980."

Journalists of the Important Stories news outlet have found the social media accounts of those Russian soldiers and established the settlements where they were born. The journalists have managed to call some of them and ask about the missile strike on a high-rise building in Dnipro.

 

PHOTO: Colonel Oleg Timoshin, 51 y.o.

PHOTO FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

Timoshin comes from Olenegorsk, a city in Murmansk Oblast.

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PHOTO: Major Alexei Ivanenko, 35 y.o.

PHOTO FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

Ivanenko is from Morozovsk, a city in Rostov Oblast.

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PHOTO: Dmitry Golenkov, 44 y.o.

PHOTO FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

Golenkov comes from Pogar village in Bryansk Oblast.

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PHOTO: Dinar Nazyrov, 37 y.o.

PHOTO FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

Nazyrov was born in Bugulma, a city in Tatarstan.

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PHOTO: Yevgeny Potseluiev, 41 y.o.

PHOTO FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

Potseluiev is from Viazovka village in Volgograd Oblast.

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PHOTO: Denis Grigoriev, 40 y.o.

PHOTO FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

Grigoriev comes from Kostanai city, Kazakhstan.

More details: Alexei Ivanenko has claimed in the conversation with the journalists that he is not aware of what happened in Dnipro because he does not follow the news.

"I resigned from the army three years ago after I had my head fractured. I retired and am doing sanitation now," he said.

When asked what he thought of the SSU opening a criminal case on him, Ivanenko replied, "Great, do I need to surrender now or what?"

Ivanenko has revealed that he "heard a long time ago" about other soldiers on the list of the SSU, except for Oleg Timoshin, whom he does not know, as he said. Ivanenko "does not think anything" about the Russian war against Ukraine, as there is already "nothing to think with".

Dinar Nazyrov said when asked about his involvement in the attack on Dnipro that he is "a forest guard from a forest".

"Do not go around in my forest and scare squirrels," he advised the journalists before hanging up.

Dmitry Golenkov has talked with the media outlet the longest. The SSU states that Golenkov is the Chief of Staff of the Aviation Squadron of the aviation group.

When asked about the strike on Dnipro, he asked the journalist a counter-question about who does Crimea belong to:

"Hold on with the strike on Dnipro. I understand everything that you want to ask me. But I am a citizen of the Russian Federation, and the Constitution of the Russian Federation is very important to me. I want to ask you as a journalist why you are calling me and saying that Crimea is… not ours. No. You have to say that Crimea is Russia. Why are you not saying this? [...]

I have said that four subjects [annexed territories of four Ukrainian oblasts that Russia illegally announced as federal subjects in Autumn 2022 - ed.] and Crimea are ours. What does Ukraine have to do with this? I am not touching Ukraine at all. Ukraine is another independent state. It attacks our territory: the Russian Federation, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia oblasts and Crimea. Why don’t you ask me about this? [...] Miss, you're most likely from Ukraine. Russian journalists do not pose such questions. Journalists do not ask questions at all."

After the journalist insistently attempted to receive an answer regarding the attack on Dnipro, Golenkov became angry: "F**k, did I press a button or was I on this plane? [...] Crimea is still ours, and everything else is, too. What do you want from us?"

When asked whether he felt sorry for people killed in Dnipro, the man said: "What people? What are you talking about? I do not understand."

Then, he stated that Ukraine is "a region of Russia. One big region of Russia. You will not even be divided into separate regions." And at the end of the conversation, he added, "And everything else will be ours. Goodbye, miss."

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