In 1942 Katriuk joined Battalion 118 to fight the Soviet partisans . Katriuk 's Nazi ties were known at the time of the Federal Court of Canada decision , but more details did not emerge until the release in 2008 of KGB interrogation reports at the trial of Hryhoriy Vasiura , one of the battalion officers . The new KGB documents , yet unseen by the general public , claim that Katriuk was directly involved in the Khatyn massacre . In an article published in '' Holocaust and Genocide Studies '' , Lund University historian Per Anders Rudling , relying on new KGB interrogation reports , wrote that “ One witness stated that Volodymyr Katriuk was a particularly active participant in the atrocity : he reportedly lay behind the stationary machine gun , firing rounds on anyone attempting to escape the flames . ” Another Soviet war crimes trial in 1973 heard that Katriuk and two others killed a group of Belarusian loggers earlier on that day , suspecting they were part of a popular uprising . " I saw how Ivankiv was firing with a machine-gun upon the people who were running for cover in the forest , and how Katriuk and Meleshko were shooting the people lying on the road , " the witness said . Katriuk was a member of Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118 that helped the Nazis to create " dead zones . " The dead zone policy involved exterminating Soviet partisans who had launched ambushes against Nazi forces
Khatyn massacre
Khatyn massacre
Vladimir Katriuk