Головна Сторінка » English stories » Stolen Memories: Camera Helps Identify Russian Occupiers of Northern Ukrainian Village A Ukrainian reconnaissance officer with callsign Grad asked the editorial office of Slidstvo.Info to identify the occupiers and return the find to its owners During the occupation of Nova Basan village in Chernihiv Oblast a camera belonging to the Ustyanivskyi family was among the looted but forgotten items in an infantry fighting vehicle Slidstvo.Info journalists returned the memories The Ustyanivskyi family is celebrating the second birthday of their son Father Ihor enters the room with a small box Mother Oksana unties the gift bow and takes it out The first shot with a little son in her arms the first selfie with friends… the first days of the occupation The Russian military entered the village of Nova Basan They deployed almost 1,000 infantry fighting vehicles and other equipment in the village and lived in the homes of the locals The occupiers intimidated the villagers and took men prisoner keeping them without food and water in cold basements The Ustianivskyi family was able to evacuate only on March 20 after which the occupiers came and looted their house The Russians turned all the cabinets upside down a hair clipper… and a camera with family memories the Ustianivskyis’ camera traveled in an armored personnel carrier with the Russians from house to house The Russian military used it to take pictures The Slidstvo.Info journalists managed to identify the occupiers from the photos: Aleksandr Gornostayev The permanent location of their 14th Army District of the Northern District of the Russian Armed Forces is in Murmansk Oblast almost 3,000 kilometers from this Ukrainian village In the spring of 2022, in the battles near Kharkiv, the Ukrainian Armed Forces liquidated the commander of their 200th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade this fate did not befall all the Russian military from this unit Russian soldier Ivanov’s name is Vanya Ivanov Ivanov does not hide his participation in the hostilities and his affection for the Russian dictator as he posts photos from an exhibition hugging a wax figure of Putin Ivan published a photo of himself and other Russian military personnel whose faces are on the camera from Nova Basan the occupier published a photo with the caption: “While dad is working It seems that the Russian occupier returned home in June 2022 Photos with his family appeared on his page from a joint vacation in a water park Ivanov posted photos from his civilian life every month probably because the Russian authorities did not send him to war in Ukraine for the second time From the photos on Vanya Ivanov’s social network it was possible to identify Vladimir Menigechev and stored the looted items from Ukrainians in an infantry fighting vehicle The occupier publishes his photos from the war on the territory of Ukraine he is in the middle of a field near some equipment sometimes against the background of the Russian flag under a tree Menigechev shares sad social media posts about the lost love of a soldier He also publishes the song Okrain Russkaya Zemlya (“Outskirts of Russian Land”) which glorifies the “exploits of the Russian army” Alexander Gornostayev posed for the stolen camera and goes by the name “Shurik from Volchansk” on social media He posts photos only with fish and has no mention of war crimes on the territory of Ukraine Slidstvo.Info journalists called Gornostayev and asked him about the camera stolen from a Ukrainian family There are photos of civilians who lived in that village (Laughs) You’re calling the wrong number After the journalist said that he was in a photo Another Russian who took a selfie in an IFV with a stolen camera is Nurlybek Bayganin A selfie of the occupier Bayganin from the stolen camera of a Ukrainian family But his “colleague” Vanya Ivanov “helped” to identify Bayganin He published a better photo in which 27-year-old Nurlybek can be seen journalists identified the Russian and found his VKontakte page The occupier had old photos from his military service there and did not accept a request to become friends The Russian does not have a page anywhere else The camera had a joint photo of the occupiers and a local The man owns the shop where the occupiers lived Viacheslav Shyrhan told Slidstvo.info journalists that the occupiers had machine guns and ordered him to carry a cauldron of food “When they were cooking behind our barn They were carrying something from a neighboring house but how can you [object] when they were all armed with machine guns and [said it] in the form of an order,” Viacheslav recalls a Ukrainian scout with the call sign “Grad” contacted the editorial office of Slidstvo.info He told us about his find: “Good evening I found their (the occupiers’ – ed.) camera in an abandoned vehicle There are photos of them and a photo of a local who helped them Grad found the camera in a Russian IFV left by the occupiers during the liberation of Nova Basan by Ukrainian defenders on March 30 The soldier said that in addition to the camera “I wanted to give the camera to the owners as soon as I had the chance It’s important to me because it’s their property and there may be photos that are important to them Memories: photos of their young grandchildren perhaps these are the only photos they have left after the enemy arrived,” the Ukrainian scout Grad said in a conversation with a journalist Slidstvo.Info decided to track down the owner of the camera and return the valuable item to the family Oksana Ustyanivska works as a technician at a local school the woman and her son were in the occupied village “The Russians have never seen anything like this they probably don’t have anything like this They picked up this camera and started taking pictures You take it and start taking pictures of yourself I feel so angry with them that if I were given an assault rifle I would go and shoot them all indiscriminately,” says the owner of the camera stolen by the Russians Oksana took the camera out of its case and put it on the couch who has been living with the family for only a month and The article was prepared with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative “European Renaissance of Ukraine” The piece represents the position of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or the International Renaissance Foundation READ ALSO: Relatives Identified the Bodies of Soldiers Captured by Russians in Avdiivka Slidstvo.Info agency traced the path of the 27-year-old Viktoria uncovering the conditions of her detention in .. who for the first time shared her experience of imprisonment and what is .. 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