Chief of the Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyliy Vovk said the video had not been seen earlier because the fighters of the Donbas volunteer battalion who shot it had been taken prisoner by the militants, and were only recently released.
Vovk said the Donbas battalion fighters captured the Russian conscripts, and had planned to swap them in exchange for passage out of encirclement at Illoviask. However, the Donbas fighters were themselves taken prisoner before they could escape.
The video recordings contain a conversation between one of the Donbas fighters and four Russian conscripts, who gave information about their military units.
The young Russian conscript soldiers (born in 1994-95) named the units they had been serving in in Russia: the 6th Tank Brigade of the Western Military District, military unit 54096, and in the 31st Air Assault Brigade, military unit 73612.
Vovk also said SBU investigators have obtained evidence with regard to 46 Russian citizens who are organizers, participants, and assistants of the DNR and LNR militant organizations, and who have been directly financing these illegal armed groups.
