Ukrainian man says he was shot and buried alive by Russian troops

A Ukrainian man says he is “lucky” to be alive after he was tortured, shot and buried alive by Russian troops.

A Ukrainian man says he feels like he has been “resurrected” after he was shot and buried alive by Russian troops.

Mykola Kulichenko said he and his two brothers were buried in a Russian controlled area in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine just over three weeks after Vladimir Putin’s invasion began.

They were all shot but he was the only one to survive.

“It’s like being resurrected,” Mr Mykola, 33, told CNN, during an interview in which he shows an unmarked grave he says he was kicked in.

Mykola Kulichenko at an unmarked grave he says he was buried alive in. Picture: CNN

Mr Mykola said the Russian troops came knocking on their home in their village of Dovzhyk after a Russian convoy was bombed.

They became convinced the brothers had something to do with the bombing after finding military medals belonging to their grandfather.

Mr Mykola said he and his brothers, Yevhen and Dmytro, were then driven to a basement and interrogated for three days.

The Ukrainian, 33, says Russian troops put the barrel of a gun in his mouth. Picture: CNN

On the fourth day he said they tortured him and his brothers until he lost consciousness.

“They beat my whole body with a metal rod, and they put the barrel of a gun inside my mouth,” Mr Mykola told CNN.

After that Mr Mykola said they were blindfolded, their hands and legs were bound with tape and they were driven in a military vehicle by five Russian soldiers to a remote plot of land. They were made to kneel, blindfolded, while a pit was dug, he said.

Mr Mykola’s brothers both died in the attack. Picture: CNN

His brothers were shot first and then it was his turn – but the bullet hit his cheek and exited next to his right ear, he said. So he played dead.

Mr Mykola doesn’t know how long he stayed in the ditch but managed to get out despite his hands and legs being taped.

“It was hard for me to breathe, since Dima (Dmytro) was lying on top of me, but using my arms and knees, I was able to push my older brother off to the side of the pit, and then I climbed out,” he told CNN.

A war crimes investigation has opened into the alleged incident.

Once out he found a house where a woman was able to help him.

He still bares a scar on his cheek and behind his ear.

Mr Mykola considers himself “lucky” to be alive to tell his story.

“Now I have to just go on living,” he said.

“This story needs to be heard by everyone, not just in Ukraine, but around the world because these kind of things are happening and this is just one in a billion.”

The Chernihiv region prosecutor’s office has opened a war crimes investigation.

Investigators confirmed to CNN that the brothers’ hands and legs had been tied and they had been blindfolded.