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Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office has identified the Russian soldier who shot and killed two unarmed civilians at a car dealership near Kyiv in March, CNN reports.
His name is Nikolai Sergeyevich Sokovikov. Ukraine accuses the military man of violating the laws and customs of war (Article 438 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code) and premeditated murder. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, Sokovikov, along with another unidentified serviceman, inflicted at least 12 gunshot wounds on civilians.
According to his VKontakte page, Sokovikov is 26 years old and lives in Omsk. His wife's page has many photos of them together, as well as photos of their two children.
The Prosecutor’s Office did not specify how Sokovikov was identified. But according to CNN, one of the technologies used by the Ukrainian military is facial recognition. Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation uploads images of suspects into an application that analyzes social media pages, and once investigators have a match, they confirm it with the suspect's close relatives.
Video captured on a surveillance camera outside a car dealership near Kyiv was published by CNN on May 12. The footage shows five Russian soldiers first interrogating two unarmed men, then releasing them, after which one of the soldiers shoots them in the back. Istories identified one of the soldiers as Dmitry Lapshakov, a 29-year-old resident of the Peschanka settlement in Chita.
CNN says it has recently obtained new footage of the incident. It shows two soldiers shooting at someone near the car dealership. Other footage shows two civilians. Camera footage also shows five soldiers drinking alcohol at the site of the car dealership.