Russians ‘fired at civilian convoy after signalling they were safe’

RUSSIAN troops reportedly fired on a convoy of civilians fleeing a village near Kyiv despite waving them through a checkpoint and saying they would be safe, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

The alleged incident happened last month between the villages of Lipivka and Korolivka and led to the deaths of at least two people, but likely many more, according to an eyewitness.

Oleksii Sychevskyi and his family were living in the town of Makariv, west of Kyiv, when the Russians occupied it in late February. “It was a nightmare,” Mr Sychevskyi said.

Authorities in the town on Saturday said they had found the bodies of 132 tortured people executed by Russian troops, many in mass graves.

On March 10, they were finally told they could leave.

The 34-year-old engineer gathered his elderly parents, his wife, Olga, and eight-year-old son Mykola and bundled them all into his Honda Accord.

After two days of trying and failing, on March 12, the Sychevskyis joined a convoy of 13 civilian cars carrying men, women and children and setting off from the nearby hamlet of Lipivka.

Oleksii and his mother, 61-year-old Tetitana, sat in the front, while his father, 64-year-old Oleksandr, sat in the back with the others.

They tried several different Russian checkpoints without success.

Eventually, they were given permission to pass at Lipivka.

“The soldiers said we could go through but we had to drive slowly, no more than 20 km/h, and stay close together,” said Mr Sychevskyi.

They tied white sheets to their car, just in case. “There was no chance that they didn’t know that we were civilians,” he said.

But not long after being waved through, the entire convoy came under fire from Russian troops positioned just 320-490ft from the road.

“The first shots hit the car in front of us, wounding the driver, so the convoy came to a stop,” Mr Sychevskyi said. “Then a shot came through the passenger door of our car, went right through and out of my door. Then there was the sound of another shot, and blood, tissue and pieces of bone hit the windscreen.

“My wife screamed that my father’s head had gone. It felt like something had kicked my seat. Looking back, I saw that my wife had slumped over.”

“It all happened in a few seconds, very fast,” said Mr Sychevskyi. “I saw the car in front of us had started moving again so I hit the gas.

“There were a lot of shots. Looking in the mirrors, I saw the cars behind me on fire and people crawling away from them, trying to find cover. I don’t know what happened to them.”

Mr Sychevskyi managed to reach Ukrainian-held territory. His father and his wife were dead.

His son Mykola lay on the floor of the car with flesh wounds on his back and was taken to hospital with his mother.

They have since fled to live with Mr Sychevskyi’s brother in Germany.

How many died in total in the ambush remains unclear. The Ukrainian police have launched an investigation.