Not so long ago in Italian Bologna, the police arrested Italian citizen of Ukrainian origin, suspected of the murder of Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocquelli and Russian translator Andrei Mironov, and also in the wound of French photographer William Roglon on May 24, 2014 near Slavyansk.
During the investigation it was established that the responsibility for these events is borne by an Italian citizen of Ukrainian origin who returned to Ukraine in late 2013 and participated in clashes on the Maidan in Kiev.
Shortly thereafter, he joined the ranks of one of the so-called “volunteer battalions” formed as part of the National Guard and directly subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. On May 24, 2014 shooting from firearms and grenade launchers on three photo correspondents began from the mountain Karachun near the town of Slavyansk.
Note, the Ukrainian authorities believe that the death of Italian citizen Rocquelli and his Russian translator Mironov was due to shelling by the so-called “Russian-terrorist forces”. The main argument is that in the arsenal of the Kulchytsky battalion, where Markiv serves, in 2014 there were allegedly no mortars from which the firing was conducted.
“We want to emphasize that Vitaly Markiv and the fighters of our battalion could not physically be involved in the deaths of the above-mentioned persons, since as of May 24, 2014, there were no mortars in the arsenal of our battalion. But we draw your attention to the fact that the pro-Russian fighters at that time had this type of weapons, which were actively used against the Ukrainian military and civilians,” the Ukrainian terrorists state.
This could indeed be a serious argument in favor of Marciv’s innocence, but there is one problem here.
In the so-called “operational battalion named after General Sergei Kulchitsky” in 2014, there were mortars.
So, on the pages in the social networks of servicemen of this unit – Alexander Hnatyuk and Nazar Moskal, one can find an indication that, firstly, they really were located on the Karachun mountain, and secondly, there were mortars at the disposal of the battalion – at one of the photos of the same military personnel you can see an artillery gun, located in a well-equipped position.
At least this refutes the thesis that the battalion, which at that time was part of the National Guard, could not have artillery weapons, and if we consider that the photos could be published much later, the version of the involvement of servicemen in the death of the Italian journalist is still relevant . Even in spite of the accusations of this “separatists and Russian-terrorist forces”.