Russian serviceman Mykyta Khybrin, who took part in the invasion of Ukraine, requested political asylum after landing in Madrid, The Guardian reports. He was a member of the 64th motorized rifle brigade of the village ofBuchanan atrocitiesbut says he didn’t shoot.

Khybrin wants to testify at the international tribunal about Russia’s war crimes

The 27-year-old, who said he spent more than four months in Ukraine, was part of the 64th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, a unit accused of committing war crimes in Kyiv region in March.

Chybrin landed in the Spanish capital on Tuesday and was detained at the airport’s immigration center. In a phone interview Wednesday night, Khybrin denied involvement in his unit’s reported war crimes, saying he did not fire a weapon “not once” while in Ukraine.

He said he was looking forward to testifying at the international tribunal about his experience in Ukraine. “I have nothing to hide,” he said. “This is a criminal war started by Russia. I want to do everything I can to stop it.”

Khybrin said he decided to flee Russia after fleeing his unit in Ukraine in June.

According to Chybrin, he told his commanders that he was against the war. Chybrin says he was stripped of his rank as an Army mechanic after he came forward and was then assigned to manual labor.

“I was threatened with prison. Finally, my commanders decided to use me to clear and load. I was placed far from the battlefield,” he said about his time in Ukraine.

The Guardian was unable to independently verify all the details of Chybrin’s story. Khybrin provided documents and photos proving that he was part of the 64th separate motorized rifle brigade of Ukraine.

Military lawyer Maksym Grebenyuk said that Khybrin talked to him in the summer.

Hrebenyuk said Khybrin spoke of his opposition to what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” and his desire not to fight in Ukraine.

Khybrin is the second known Russian serviceman to flee the country after participating in the invasion. In August, The Guardian interviewed Pavel Filatyev, a former Russian paratrooper who fled the country after writing a memoir critical of the war.

Born in Yakutsk, eastern Siberia, Khybrin joined the Russian army in the summer of 2021. “I didn’t think I’d be in the war,” he said, citing financial hardship as the reason for his decision to join the military.

Khybrin stayed in Ukraine from the beginning of the invasion until June with one of the bloodiest Russian brigades

According to Khybrin, he first entered Ukraine with his unit on February 24, crossing the border with Belarus, and stayed until June. “We had no idea that we would fight in Ukraine,” he said. “We’ve all been duped.”

According to Chybrin, he spent the first month of the invasion in the village of Lypivka. During this time, Chybrin’s brigade was accused of shooting civilians in Buchi and Andriivka, two villages located near Lypivka.

Earlier, the Russian investigative site iStories published the confession of a soldier of the Khybrin unit, who admitted on camera that he shot a civilian in the Ukrainian city of Andriyivka, less than 8 kilometers from Lypivka.

After Ukrainian officials identified the 64th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade as the unit occupying Bucha, Vladimir Putin gave the Russian Army’s 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade the honorary title of “Guards”.

“The fighters of this brigade, many of whom have already been identified, will be responsible for the mass atrocities in Buchi. This is the Russian interpretation of heroism and courage – to kill hundreds of unarmed civilians, rape dozens of women and girls and finally get rid of Ukrainian troops,” said Serhiy Kyslytsia, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, in April.

Khybrin claimed he did not witness any shootings while in Lypivka, but said his unit regularly robbed Ukrainian homes. “They robbed everything that was there. Washing machines, electronics, everything,” he said.

He added that there were “widespread rumours” among his comrades that members of his unit were involved in sexually abusing and killing civilians. The UN has previously said that Russia used rape and sexual violence as part of its “military strategy” in Ukraine.

Russian troops were forced to withdraw from the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital in March. According to Khybrin, his unit was sent to the city of Bugaivka in the north-east of the Kharkiv region.

He described morale in his unit while in Ukraine as “extremely low,” confirming numerous media reports that describe the Russian military as suffering from morale problems. “Everyone was looking for ways to get out of the army. But our commanders threatened to shoot us if we escaped.”

How Khybrin deserted from the Russian army to Spain

According to him, on June 16, he managed to escape from Ukraine, hiding in a truck headed for Russia for food.

After some time, he contacted the human rights network Gulagu.net, which helped Khybrin leave Russia earlier this month. The head of Gulagu.net Volodymyr Osechkin confirmed that his organization helped Khybrin leave Russia.

Chybrin said he hoped to be granted political asylum in Spain, citing his public opposition to the war and the risk of being sent back to Russia.

Chybrin was released from the immigration center at Madrid airport on Thursday evening. He said he would be placed in a temporary refugee shelter in the Spanish capital as authorities continued to process his asylum claim.

A spokesman for Spain’s interior ministry declined to comment on the case, citing international protection rules and the risk of possible prosecution of the applicants.

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