On November 3, 2025, near the village of Kruhliakivka in Kharkiv region, an FPV drone targeted two unarmed civilians with a dog who were walking along the road with a white flag. The people and the dog died. Russian Telegram channels presented the video of the strike as an alleged crime by Ukrainian troops. At the same time, the Ukrainian 77th Separate Airmobile Brigade posted the footage with the evidence that the civilians were deliberately attacked by the Russians. The 77th brigade also emphasized the absence of military targets nearby. The Suspilne investigative editorial office decided to look into this war crime and established which Russian unit was allegedly involved in the murder in Kruhliakivka.
Which Russian units are attacking Kupiansk?
Ukrainian paratroopers called the event in Kruhliakivka a “false flag operation” with the aim of discrediting the Ukrainian Defense Forces. The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office launched a pre-trial investigation into the fact of a war crime, which resulted in the deaths of two civilians and their dog.
Kruhliakivka is a village in the Kurylivska community of Kupiansk district. It was occupied by the Russians twice: first in 2022, and then, according to the DeepState project, in the autumn of 2024. In October 2024, the village was liberated by the Ukrainian special forces, but a few days later, the Russian troops captured it again.
Before the full-scale Russian invasion, about 1,200 people lived in Kruhliakivka. The head of the Kurylivska administration, Oleksandr Baulin, reported that at the time of the second occupation, 12 people remained in the village. There is no contact with them now.
Currently, Kruhliakivka is in the area of active hostilities. From there, Russian troops regularly attack other settlements.
According to OSINT analysts, the units from the Russian Western military district, primarily from the 1st tank army, operate there. According to the analysis published by the Royal United Services Institute, Russian assault operations rely on dense artillery fire, reconnaissance UAVs, FPVs, and engineering units that provide passages in minefields.
The crime was allegedly committed by a Russian military intelligence unit
The first video of the killing of civilians in Kruhliakivka was posted by the popular Russian Telegram channel “Operation Z: war correspondents of the Russian spring”. The authors of the publication, however, claimed that it was an “attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, and that the incident happened in the village of Petropavlivka in Kharkiv region, a settlement near Kupiansk, which is currently under the control of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
The Suspilne investigative editorial office checked the geolocation and data from the Ukrainian side: the crime occurred on the outskirts of Kruhliakivka, and the civilians were walking towards the village of Berestove, a territory controlled by the Russian troops at the time of the incident.
One of the versions of the video, which was intentionally blurred by Russians, preserved a fragment of the graphic marker of the unit that was filming the event.
After a detailed analysis, we were able to recognize the insignia of the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade of the Russian Armed Forces: the inscription, the number “96”, the silhouette of a bat that is characteristic of Russian military intelligence units, as well as the designation “1 RB” and the signature “UGAR”. Considering these details, the video was probably made by the UAV crew of the 1st reconnaissance battalion of the 96th brigade.
In another angle of the video, another digital marker is visible – the number 123.
We found mentions of this and other UAV crews in the material of Russian war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny. In October 2025, the crews “123 Mamura” and “122 Pepel”, which are part of the 96th brigade, participated in the attack on the command post of the Ukrainian 77th brigade in Senkovo, near Kruhliakivka.
The 96th separate reconnaissance brigade of the Russian Armed Forces is based in Nizhny Novgorod. It was established in 2015. The unit is part of the 1st guards tank army of the Western military district, which attacked Kyiv region at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The Russians publicly called the advance to the borders of Ukraine on the eve of February 24, 2022 “training”, but the Ukrainian intelligence published data on the proven combat order to the 96th brigade with the task of an offensive.
The brigade has a separate reconnaissance battalion. It includes UAV companies with crews of drone operators. Their existence is indicated in Russian volunteer reports on the transfer of drones and equipment. In particular, the project “Hello from home-152” from Nizhny Novgorod has been transferring drones, spare parts, communications equipment, and food for UAV companies of the 96th brigade since 2022. In publications, the units are identified by the call signs of their commanders.
Unnamed UAV companies of the 96th brigade also appear in Russian propaganda materials. The pro-Kremlin Russia Today published a report about the work of the laboratory for repairing and modernizing drones for combat missions. Other reports mentioned the work of reconnaissance units of the 96th brigade on the west bank of the Oskil River.
As of November 2025, the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade operates in the Kupiansk area. Some units use the area near the village of Kuzemivka, approximately 20-25 km east of Kruhliakivka, as a temporary deployment point. As the brigade soldiers state in Russian propaganda publications, their work is of a maneuvering nature: short trips to positions, quick rotations and returns for replenishment and repairs, so there is no permanent presence of crews in Kuzemivka.
This publication was funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
