Ukrainian dug himself out of grave where Russians buried him and his murdered brothers

Mykola Kulichenko, 33, was tortured for 3 days in a basement (Image: CNN)

A Ukrainian man has shared his exceptional survival story after being shot and buried alive by Russian troops.

Mykola Kulichenko, 33, was crushed with a steel rod till he misplaced consciousness, earlier than Putin’s executioners put a gun inside his mouth and pulled the set off.

Subsequent to him within the unmarked woodland grave, close to the Belarus border, laid his two brothers, Yevhen and Dmytro.

Like him, their legs had been tied, fingers certain, and our bodies battered and bruised. All had been shot however solely Mykola survived the injuries.

He first heard a shot from behind him, and Dmytro, the eldest of the three, fell to the bottom. Subsequent, he felt Yevhen, the youngest, drop by his aspect.

‘I used to be pondering that I used to be subsequent,’ the agricultural labourer advised CNN. Someway, the bullet entered his cheek and exited subsequent to his proper ear.

Mykola knew his solely hope of getting out was to play useless. When the Russians drove away, he crawled by way of layers of soil.

Crosses, floral tributes and pictures of Irpin and Bucha victims mark graves in a cemetery (Image: Getty)

The labourer exhibits the scar from the place the bullet got here out (Image: CNN)

‘It was onerous for me to breathe, since Dima (Dmytro) was mendacity on prime of me, however utilizing my arms and knees, I used to be capable of push my older brother off to the aspect of the pit, after which I climbed out,’ Mykola stated.

Till March 18, the invasion had modified his life little despite the fact that Russians had occupied the sleepy village of Dovzhyk, close to the town of Kharkiv, the place he lived along with his two brothers and sister Iryna.

However when an enemy convoy was bombed, the occupiers brutally hunted for these accountable and stormed their home.

In keeping with Mykola, all three brothers had been pressured to kneel of their backyard, whereas troops trashed their belongings in search of proof of their involvement.

After they found their grandfather’s medals and a navy bag belonging to 30-year-old Yevhen, who had been a paratrooper, their destiny was determined.

Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, 21, who's suspected of violations of the legal guidelines and norms of battle, arrives for a court docket listening to in Kyiv (Image: Reuters)

After being tortured for 3 days in a basement, the brothers had been blindfolded and brought to the woods.

As Mykola stepped off the navy car, he realised the three had been about to be executed.

‘I used to be fortunate… and now I've to simply go on residing,’ he stated.

‘This story must be heard by everybody, not simply in Ukraine, however all over the world as a result of these type of issues are taking place and this is only one in a billion.’

The regional prosecutor has now opened an investigation into what occurred to the household.

Mykola’s harrowing story is only one of a whole lot to emerge after practically three months of battle in Ukraine.

The Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) has despatched its ‘largest-ever’ group of specialists to the nation to research alleged battle crimes.

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