The family of a Kiwi aid worker killed in Ukraine in January were told his death was an accident. A Sunday investigation reveals something more sinister may have occurred.
It had been two weeks of agony and anxiety when the police arrived at the Bagshaws door in January.
Kiwi aid worker Andrew Bagshaw had gone missing on January 6 while attempting to evacuate an elderly woman from the front lines of war in eastern Ukraine.
Dame Sue and Phil Bagshaw — Andrew's parents — had been fearfully waiting for news.
"It was hard to keep body and soul together at that time," Phil Bagshaw said. "We were hearing different information from different people — so diametrically opposed."
Andrew Bagshaw's family and friends talk to Sunday about their search for the truth and ultimately justice. (Source: Sunday)
On January 20, the uncertainty ended.
"A very nice police lady came at 11 o'clock at night and told us what she had been told through official channels," he said.
They were told Andrew and his British colleague Chris Parry had been killed accidentally by artillery shelling.
But news of their deaths only raised more questions.
"Unfortunately the story she'd been given wasn't true."
Saving 'hundreds' of lives
Andrew had been volunteering since July last year in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Much of his work centred on Bakhmut, the scene of one of the conflict's bloodiest battles.
Philip Ivlev-Yorke was Andrew's flatmate in the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk.
"How many lives did he save?" asks Ivlev-Yorke.
"It's immeasurable, really.
"It was in the hundreds, definitely."
The pair worked together to rescue civilians living in harm's way.
"There were multiple other volunteers — ex US Army, ex special forces… He did infinitely more with so little resources, with zero military experience, zero experience working in a war zone," said Ivlev-Yorke.
By the new year, he was a veteran. But that wasn't enough to save him on January 6.
What really happened?
Andrew and Parry set out that day for the salt mining town of Soledar. In the end they never reached the woman they'd been sent to rescue.
Volunteers who went to look for them drove into an ambush.
The Wagner mercenary group had advanced on the area, which soon fell into Russian control.
They were missing for two weeks before news of their deaths was delivered to their families on January 20 — along with the story of how they died.
"They told us that they'd been killed accidentally by shell," said Phil.
After a prisoner swap with Russia, their bodies were taken back to Kyiv.
But before he was cremated and returned to Christchurch, an autopsy on Andrew was performed in Ukraine.
Sunday has obtained a copy. It proved his death wasn't accidental.
"It's difficult to describe," said Phil. "But it certainly shows that he was shot."
The autopsy reveals Andrew's cause of death was a single gunshot to the head. It couldn't determine the range of the shot.
Parry's body was taken to Britain, where a coroner found he'd died the same way.
"That showed he'd been shot in the head," Dame Sue said. "That's an execution."
"Shot twice," her husband added. "Once in the head and once in the torso."
Deliberately killing civilians in battle is a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
"This was deliberate," Dame Sue said. "They knew they were civilians."
The Bagshaws believe an investigation is needed.
"If it can be proven as a war crime then it has to go with the rest to the International [Criminal] Court to be counted with all the thousands of others against which Russia must be held accountable," Phil said.
'Where did it come from?'
The explanation they were killed by artillery shelling never made sense to those on the ground.
"This information was false," said Ivlev-Yorke. "Where did it come from?"
When questioned by Sunday, NZ Police, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and British officials wouldn't name the source of the information.
Ivlev-Yorke believed it came from Russia — an attempt to cover up the killing of two civilian volunteers.
"By all accounts it does seem like it, yes," he said.
It's left the Bagshaws still searching for answers.
"I don't think we'll ever stop," Phil said. "We are very determined people."
But amidst the anguish and uncertainty, one thing about their son is crystal clear: "He was definitely a hero," Phil said.
"There's a big Ukrainian community here and they all say the same thing. They say not only was he a hero — but our heroes, they say, live forever."
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