Police have launched an investigation into the beating of a soldier in Zatoka

Police have launched an investigation into the beating of a soldier in the village of Zatoka, Odesa Oblast.

According to the press office of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa Oblast, the incident occurred last week in the evening at one of the vacation resorts in the resort village of Zatoka. 

Preliminary findings indicate that during an altercation between the soldier and another vacationer, the latter attacked the soldier and struck him on the head with a metal rod. The victim sustained injuries and was hospitalized.

Police have opened a criminal investigation into the incident on charges of intentionally causing bodily injury of moderate severity.  

Earlier, the publication Censor.NET, citing the wife of the assaulted man, reported that the fight broke out after the veteran made a remark to one of the vacationers who was playing Russian music loudly. According to the woman, she and her husband, ATO veteran and combat veteran Serhiy Pigura, had come on vacation. That same day, on the hotel grounds, one of the vacationers was playing Russian songs. When confronted, he declared that he would listen to whatever he wanted, and when the soldier pointed out that he was a veteran, a scuffle broke out, after which the man grabbed an electric heater and struck the soldier in the shoulder with it. When Kateryna tried to break up the fight, the assailant grabbed a piece of rebar and began swinging it around.

Serhiy put his arm out to protect his wife and took a heavy blow, while the next blow from the rebar struck the veteran directly on the head. All of this took place in front of the couple’s two young children. Eventually, the attacker was pulled away. According to journalists, the assailant is Viktor Stopchynskyi from Podilsk, who is reportedly already a suspect in two criminal cases.

Кирило Бойко