Sergey Zdrilyuk ("Abwehr"), former deputy of DNR militia, confirmed in 2020 that Igor Girkin personally executed prisoners of war he considered "traitors" or "spies". This statement was first made in Girkin's interview earlier that year, although Girkin insisted he executions were part of his "military tribunal based on laws of war". Girkin also confessed that he was involved in the murder of Volodymyr Ivanovych Rybak, a representative of Horlivka who was abducted on 17 April 2014 after trying to raise a Ukrainian flag: "Naturally, Rybak, as a person who actively opposed the "militias", was an enemy in my eyes. And his death, probably, is to some extent also under my responsibility".