1/ The Russian army has reportedly arrested two soldiers who are suspected of murdering an entire Ukrainian family in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region. One of them already had a criminal record for murdering a woman and is described by colleagues as a drunken "psycho". ⬇️ 
2/ According to reports of the killing that emerged on 18 November, the Darmobid family from Komysh-Zoria village in Pologiv district were shot dead in their home by Russian soldiers and their house was robbed.
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1593951721675538433
3/ The victims were 34-year-old Natalia Darmobid, her 38-year-old husband Oleksandr Darmobid and their sons, 13-year-old Vladyslav and 6-year-old Kyrylo. Natalia was said to have been sexually assaulted before she was killed.
4/ The independent Russian news outlet ASTRA identifies the suspects as 36-year-old Andrei Tolstikov and 31-year-old Ivan Kasyan. They are described as members of Russia's 57th Combined Regiment of the 6th Motorized Rifle Division of the 58th Combined Arms Army.
5/ According to ASTRA, Tolstikov comes from the town of Belev in Russia's Tula region. In 2008, he was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment for the murder of a woman. After being released, he subsequently worked at a food factory in the Moscow region.
6/ In late June 2022 he was pictured on social media in uniform in Belgorod region, prior to being sent to fight in Ukraine. (The timing and circumstances make it probable that he is a volunteer contract soldier – he is clearly not a mobilised man or a mercenary.)
7/ Kasyan reportedly comes from Gorodno, Lukhovitsky district, Moscow region. He worked as a retailer but was sentenced to 3 years' probation in 2011 for "abuse of authority".
8/ ASTRA reports that according to a source, Tolnikov had previously been stationed with a different unit in the now-liberated village of Chistovodivka near Izyum, in Kharkiv region.
9/ The source says that Tolnikov "behaved "inadequately": he often drank, "gathered a team of drunkards", "ran around the village" and "boasted of his criminal record". He was said to have harassed a local resident in the village.
10/ "Twice we looked for him at the line-up, he was absent. When we were distributing rations, we found a girl – she has two children and her husband was serving somewhere in the 'DPR'. She told us that he had got to her. We told her to run to us if anything happened.
11/ "We called him crazy. Because, for example, we were digging in somewhere in the forest, and he was quietly playing with an assault rifle. We'd have to dismantle our position, go away and dig in again. The next day he would start again.
12/ "Eventually, we told him: "Listen, you moron, if you set us up again, we'll shoot you here.""
After that, according to a fellow officer, Tolnikov "stole an assault rifle and ran away."
After that, according to a fellow officer, Tolnikov "stole an assault rifle and ran away."
13/ ASTRA says that in September, Tolstikov was found in a hospital in the Moscow region. After he was discharged, he went to Ukraine again, but as part of a different unit which was deployed to Zaporizhzhia region. /end
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
