Who Killed Irina Filkina?

June 19, 2022

(rough, incomplete)

updated June 26

3/3 or 3/5 tank incident - uncertainty over the date and thus the victims, and also uncertainty as to whose tanks those were, what else might play into the situation, go into deciding what her killing means. It definitely requires a dedicated post. and a better intro, some cleanup, etc. But it's good enough to show.

Intro

Irina (or Iryna) Filkina had always lived for others, as people say. But as her 53rd birthday approached, she had decided to live more for herself in 2022. As CNN reported, citing local makeup artist Anastasia Subacheva, "[Irina] even got a cherry red manicure for Valentines' Day, drawing "a heart on her finger because she started to love herself," Just recently, she had seen an ocean for the first time, on a trip to Egypt. Just recently, she had taken to wearing makeup, and even caring about how, taking a cosmetics course. 

But she never got the time to get far down that happy road. or I probably wouldn't be writing about her here. Russian forces soon invaded. As CNN reported, "Her daughters decided to cross the border into Poland, but Filkina stayed back to help people. She spent a week at the Epicenter shopping center" - in western Kiev, not in Bucha as CNN heard - "feeding people who were sheltering there and cooking for the Ukrainian military, according to her daughter."

Kholod Magainze reported the location, at the Lavina Mall ("on Berkovetskaya Street on the outskirts of Kiev") and that there was shelling of the area Irina and the rest hid from in the basement. This was likely in response to Ukrainian shelling from the mall or nearby. Irina thought it was safe there, but "they already began to shoot strongly, it became unsafe in the Epicenter" and, "after other employees began to evacuate from there, the woman decided to go home as well." It was the 5th of March. She couldn't secure a ride with others and finally "was the only one left at Epicenter," according to her daughter Olga, Irina had to set out on her own. 

CNN: "One of Filkina's daughters, 26-year-old Olga Shchyruk, said she begged her mother not to ride her black bike home that day. She asked her to take the train out of the city instead. ... It was the last conversation they had. Filkina never made it home that day. ... the Ukrainian military [told] the family on March 5 that she had died." That heart-marked fingernail signaling self-love would be seen again almost a month later, by the whole world, covered in the grime of war.

Video Proof, With a Shifting Date

A different date - March 3 - was ascribed to the first video we would see from a drone Azov Battalion regularly flew over southern Bucha. This showed a Russian tank (or more exactly a BMD) firing on a bicyclist now assumed to be Mrs. Filkina, as she rounds the corner of Yablunska and Vokzalna streets. That was first released on April 4 by Ukrainian Pravda, explaining "the video was shot by aerial reconnaissance of Azov fighters on March 3, 2022 in Bucha, showing Russian equipment, VoxCheck analysts confirm in cooperation with the Public." No specifics on the victim were offered.

It's not clear why it wasn't released earlier, considering what it shows. A column of at least 19 tanks/AFVs and three support trucks coming from the west is stopped in the midst of a turn to the north, up the un-blocked Vodoprovidna street. Several soldiers and possibly locals stand around talking, as 2 leading tanks seem to stand guard to the east. It's these that open fire; the lead one fires an apparent warning shot as the bicyclist approaches the corner, then 4 more after she comes into view. The other tank fires once later on (at 2:28), seeming to finally hit the light pole's concrete base, or something that kicks up a lot of dust along the fence. 

My own scene analysis, referred to below:

Daily Mail Online April 5 "In the first video, captured on March 5, the drone appears to be watching the Russian tank column, but the footage also tracks the person as he is walking up the road that runs through a neighbourhood of destroyed or damaged buildings." Here, the victim is referred to as "he," but the date is different - allowing a match-up with Mrs. Filkina. 

A New York Times article would make that connection, but seemingly aware of the date ambiguity, they only said the video was "recorded by Ukraine’s military in early March." CNN would likewise say only that it was  filmed "before March 10" meaning on or before March 10; as their favored experts Bellingcat found, a March 11 satellite view from Planet.com showed a house that was still intact in the bicyclist video had been destroyed in the interim. (Twitter) 

The Daily Mail directly cited Bellingcat: "However, another video taken on the street - shared by investigative agency Bellingcat and captured some time later - reportedly showed the same junction after the attack. A person, said to be the same as in the first video, can be seen dead - slumped on the side of the road with his bicycle." Indeed ... here with an Azov Battalion drone view of March 25. Notice the downed light pole and damaged fence. The destroyed house behind the fence is a later development, but considered below.

I was able to show how the pattern of damage to the fence reflects a certain angle of fire, where the pole absorbing fragments left a "shadow" of less damage to the fence. The actual angle is more from the right than I drew it there, but still maybe not quite the angle we see in that video. 

In fact, it's not clear the pole is downed in that video. Comparing different, especially aerial views to set the pole relative to the house, I think the yellow box here shows where the pole would be visible if it were still standing. It's never visible, although it might have been just too short to see. (another pole to the right is remains upright the whole time, and even after the house was destroyed.) 

Bellingcat would keep being called on - not because they're Western intelligence cut-outs who can be counted on the deliver the politically correct findings, but because they're so amazingly through and balanced and 100% independent (or so we are to believe).  To illustrate Bellingcat's powers on 60 Minutes Overtime in May  (segment on Youtube). founder Eliot Higgins used this video from Azov Battalion ("a nearby Ukrainian unit") from "the center of Bucha" (actually its southern edge) "on March 3rd" (not the 5th? Then how does he know that's the woman seen, rather than the man seen more right at the corner?) - to help Pelley conclude "this video before the Ukrainian troops entered proves that they" - meaning Irina and others seen along Yablunska street, some next the impact craters of mortar shells fired from the Ukrainian-held southeast, and most of them it turns out were killed early on this same day (March 5) - "had to have been killed by the Russians." Eliot knows however much of this he does, and concurs with this reading passed on to millions by the venerable 60 Minutes. He didn't even have to mention the V markings! 

March 3, or March 5? It's still not certain, but the latter seems to have won as a best bet. The bicyclist is widely accepted as a woman, Irina Filkina, who was reportedly killed by tank fire in Bucha on March 5, as she pedaled home on this route, minutes after a final contact with her daughter. The body nearest a bicycle at the corner in question was identified as Filkina. The NYT report, co-authored by Malachy Browne, even thinks "The person’s clothing — a dark blue top and lighter pants — matches the cyclist’s attire." The latter is not even clear enough to actually say. But the unique manicure shared by Irina and that body - as noted in the CNN report and many others - is fairly conclusive (see comparison below).

Questions: considering the date issues, that may have always been a different bicyclist on March 3, with Irina's killing just not recorded - not clear if Irina really died on the 5th - plump pink fingers show none of the usual shriveling or darkening at the tips (presumably from frostbite) that are seen on most bodies killed that early, but the plumpness alone might explain that. Her serious leg wound also lacks the expected blackening, but later predation might explain that and its over-seriousness (stray dogs were starving - it happens). 

But otherwise, March 5 seems to line up, so maybe those points are just an anomalous or explained as I now suggest. Either way, she went out of contact on March 5, and unless someone copied her manicure, she wound up dead at the same site a bicyclist was seemingly killed by Russian tanks, probably on March 5. We'll come back to those question after considering a few more details.

Account Details

https://click-clicker.com/2022/04/07/who-is-irina-filkina-and-how-did-she-die-in-bucha/

On April 6, 2022, the Epicenter K company, where Irina Filkina worked, reported the details of the death of a woman.

“The war took her life, and a photo of a hand with a red manicure and a heart on her ring finger hit the front pages of the world media. On March 5, Irina got in touch with her family for the last time. And already on March 6, eyewitnesses told Irina’s daughter: the woman was shot by the Russian invaders when she was riding a bicycle home. Irina was also recognized by her blue jacket with the emblem of the Epicenter…” the company wrote on Facebook.

“The final confirmation of the murder of Irina Filkina in the form of a photo appeared on April 1, on the birthday of the deceased. Irina’s relatives couldn’t believe it: “It’s so hard to imagine why they fired so many bullets at her?” adds Epicenter K. (mistaking shell fragments for bullets)

Kholod Magazine ran a detailed article I coped over, but that doesn't load now. https://holod.media/2022/04/08/irina-filkina/

On the morning of February 24, 52-year-old Irina Filkina went to Kiev to work in the Epicenter shopping complex, located about 25 km from her house in the village of Mikhailovka-Rubezhovka. There she worked as a boiler room operator.

Because of the war, she had to stay in the mall for a week. Her daughters went to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees there. And she waited out the shelling in the basement of Epicenter on Berkovetskaya Street on the outskirts of Kiev and, if possible, tried to help Kievans and the Ukrainian military - Irina cooked food for them, her youngest daughter, 26-year-old Olga Shchiruk, tells Kholod.

As cited above, there was a growing danger from shelling, at which time everyone at Epicenter evacuated, with Irina going last. Her daughters tried to secure someone to give her a lift, but the best shot was only able to try it two days later. Failing to get one in time, "Irina Filkina drove to the nearest village, where someone gave her a bicycle, and she drove it home." She either drove a car then switched to a bike, or drove a bike and then switched bikes, at the "nearest village. That sounds strange, but the best reading is she drove a car to Romanivka, where the bridge was destroyed - probably by Ukrainian forces and for no good, legitimate reason - early on Feb. 25. She should have been able to carry or walk a bicycle across the plank bridge, but perhaps not. She'd have to leave any car, as she crossed on foot, maybe coordinating with Ukrainian security forces running the awkward crossing.  

If she hopped in a car of her own and drove away, that raises the question why she waited so long to get a ride with others. Maybe none were headed the right direction - Irina's daughters wanted her back home eventually, or further west in Poland with them - somewhere less shelled than that mall. Others might retreat into Kiev, but there were fears about its future, by which west seemed a good direction. Maybe there was even a ride west Filkina couldn't squeeze into. Maybe it was the plans or special routes others had that she wasn't as good with. But anyway, what good is going with a bunch of people in a car you just have to leave at Romanivka, and then, what? find a bunch of bicycles? 

She would be headed to Mikhailovka-Rubezhovka - listed a bit differently on Google Maps, about 15km west of the mall, as the crow flies. From the crossing to Irpin, she should go west, probably following the P30 up to Pushinska street, then maybe zig-zagging up to Zakhidna at Irpin's rim, then southwest to home. Maybe this wasn't permitted due to the military situation; maybe she was warned not to go that way or Russians would kill her. Instead, she chose to ride, or was directed, north towards Bucha, putting her far off course to get home. And of course it led to her death as well.

All of this would take a lot of the day - trying to get a ride, finally driving her own car or a first bike, having to leave it and cross the river on foot, maybe waiting for clearance, instructions, etc., securing a bicycle and pedaling through the war zone of Irpin. It likely would be late afternoon after all that. As Kholod reported: "Having reached the center of Irpin, from where she had 15 minutes to get home, Irina called her daughter." The only time limit I can think of is a 5PM curfew imposed on Bucha by Ukrainian authorities, effective March 3.  The same probably applied in Irpin and everywhere else on her route.

Irina did check in with Olga, who told CNN “I told her it was not safe there [in Bucha]. Russia occupied the entire village, people were killed,” Olga said. “Don’t you know your mom? I can move mountains!” Irina replied. It was their last conversation." (CNN) As Kholod related it, she was advised basically to reverse course and get "evacuated" back out of Irpin too, back to the car or bike she left, and to any plan that would be better than the one she was going by.

Irina called her daughter. "I told her: 'Mom, there is an evacuation from Irpin now, everyone is being evacuated. Throw big, run to the river, now they will take you. Don't go home,'" Olga recalls their conversation. She says that she read telegram channels that day in the morning and knew about the fighting and occupation. "Everything, daughter, mom loves you, bye. It's hard for me to pedal, I'll call back," Irina replied to Olga. But she never called back.

CNN reported in error how "the Ukrainian military [told] the family on March 5 that she had died." Polish News, part of a series oddly titled “Ukraine fights – civilians" reported "In an interview with “Fakty” TVN, Irina’s daughter confirmed that she received the first information about her mother’s death on March 6." 

Kholod: "[Olga] began to write in social networks that she was looking for her mother. The next day, a man from Irpin wrote to her on Facebook. He described the appearance of the woman he saw: blond-haired, middle-aged, wearing a blue jacket with the emblem of "Epicenter". According to him, she rode a bicycle through the "Ukrainsky" checkpoint in the Buchansky district, turned around the corner, and the Russian military shot at her."

That sounds like she was waved through by the Ukrainian checkpoint near the bridge in northern Irpin - or perhaps one established IN Buchansky district (the city plus a strip of outskirts including the Bucha river and the bridge) at the time. It was apparently just minutes before local curfew. Tanks parked just around the corner then killed her, after a Ukrainian drone tracked her up the street.  

she'd see a wrecked, flattened car ahead, and perhaps the body of Oleg Abramov. She would hear the warning shot - and the person on video seems to pause for a moment, then proceeds, maybe thinking no way they're firing at her - must be some fighting she wanted to size up. Who was shooting? She didn't know. Even now, we shouldn't be too sure about that.

Whose Tank Column, on What Day?

The armored column was identified as Russian by the apparent V markings seen on two of the units. https://df.news/en/2022/04/12/busted-lying-about-russian-atrocities-in-bucha-peskov-exposed-in-live-interview/

"The Kremlin spokesman cast doubt on the claim that the armored vehicle was manned by the Russian military. In response, the host demonstrated a zoomed-in snapshot clearly showing that the armored vehicle in question has the letter “V” inscribed on it." And thus, Dmitry Peskov was "caught lying." 

The apparent lack of a V on other units suggests those ones are not Russian. And as Deus Abscondis noted a double-stripe marking might mean that one is Ukrainian, and the camouflage style of another might say the same. And so we have a less clear mix of both sides' tanks - clearly one set in possession of the other. We know Ukraine captured several V-marked tanks in the days before this, and that it's not that hard to paint a V on. Nor is it that hard to paint a V out, and for all we know, the Russians had seized some Ukrainian AFVs by then too. So whose mixed force was this? The question is glossed over as non-existent. 

Depending whose tanks these were, they might be headed north towards city council to establish or to challenge Ukrainian control. The scene was originally reported as March 3 when Ukrainian forces were claiming control of Bucha, but as many sources agree the Russians were just starting to establish control  - sources agree March 5 is when the Russians established control in this area of Yablunska street. Thus March 5 is the better fit to blame the Russians. It also seems to fit with Filkina's narrative and the presence of her body at this corner 

From what I've been establishing, working with others, Russian forces were pushing this way from the southwestern Sklovodska district by late on March 3, as other Russians came from the east, presumably after looping around from the same area. It was in the pincer of that 8 or so civilian or militant men were apparently executed on March 3,4, or 5 (accounts vary) - to be covered in a stalled post I still haven't come back to. It seems unlikely they'd also be pushing this far east at this same time, on the 3rd. But they likely would be by the 5th. The two days could be told apart by the signs of the attacks reportedly early on the 5th - the closest thing we might see is the blackened asphalt around the burned-out van, but the drone view just barely avoids showing that area to confirm if this is present or absent 

depending which day this really is, it could fit with the Russian push or perhaps with a murkier force pushed ahead of them - Ukrainian forces might be present on the 3rd, maybe with some captured Russian tanks, in use by them - maybe a false flag unit in operation or preparing - caught here with an escort of proper Ukrainian units, was a bit embarrassing and so not published at the time - only when there was a well-known Russian massacre story to plug it into.  

Some clues consistent with this being a Ukrainian outfit: lingering as they do - men standing around, possibly including locals, almost as if they're waiting for something slow - and suffering no attack from surrounding building or from drones or artillery, even as they gun down civilians ... the drone watching Irina is Ukrainian - it might be communicating with the tanks, and hence the warning shots before she even appears. The killing could hardly be a surprised accident in that case, and the only clear motive is to have one more death to pin on the Russians. That seems plausible enough to me, but it won't be very compelling to most people, and a lot argue against it.

On the other hand, the Russians might well be at this corner by March 5 with a force about like this, which is also bigger than anything Kiev was known to have in place at the time (not that much is known). The Russians might be able to linger because Kiev was scaling back hostilities with an eye to minimizing collateral damage, after overdoing it on Vokzalna. These Russians would have no drone feed, but might have another way to know the bicyclist was coming and to fire a warning shot. But when someone comes pedaling up from the Ukrainian checkpoint and insists on getting too close, the Russian tank might open fire without waiting to see what weapon this stranger might have, and might be real quick with. 

That would be tragic, but is it really the epic war crime people pretend it is? No - especially when we consider the other factors, including Kiev's security forces, that effectively steered Irina right in front of the Russian cannons. They just pretend it's so damning because it's also on video so it's all proven, extra clear cut in being on some March day, with mixed Russian-Ukrainian armor, possibly coordinating with a Ukrainian drone or even checkpoint, and enforcing Ukraine's curfew, ...  Thomas van Linge declared that, as of April 5, "This is by far the clearest evidence of Russian war crimes in #Ukraine" - in the whole country, not just in Bucha. He had his bar set really low back then. 

Update June 26: The time of this incident is unclear - the case for around 5PM is made above and makes sense, but Iryna Abramova says her husband Oleg was killed on the morning of March 5, and she saw "the body of a woman lying next to a bicycle a few meters from their gate." By this, the other Irina was killed even earlier in the morning. Section "The House Behind" deleted, analysis replaced with a better version included at that link. And noting the first tank doesn't shoot at her but up the street a ways, as I trace it, at the tree that does seem downed by tank fire, likely killing 1-2 (see forthcoming post). This was happening as she rolled up, so no 'warning shot" or mysterious knowledge is required. It seems only the second tank actually shoots towards Irina.