[ad_1]
A Brooklyn man allegedly punched for unfurling a flag of a pro-Putin region of Ukraine claims he was merely opening a gift from a YouTube fan when his attacker pounced, The Post has learned.
The 29-year-old Gravesend man, who asked not to be identified, said he runs a YouTube channel called “Ukraine War Awareness” where he tries to debunk “fake news on both sides” for his 20,000-plus subscribers.
He received the flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic — a pro-Russia breakaway section of eastern Ukraine — on Tuesday and opened it outside at his mother’s request since the box was dusty.
“There is another package inside that package and that one is now a FedEx parcel,” the man recalled. “I opened that one up and that one has the flag in it.”
The victim, who was born in Russia, considers himself “half-Ukrainian and half-Russian” since his mother originally hails from Ukraine. He wasn’t trying to hang the flag, but a neighbor grew incensed by the flag of the pro-Russia region and slugged him, he recalled.
“I was just trying to open it,” he said Friday.
The angry neighbor, identified as Vladisla Radinovskiy, 35, allegedly chipped the man’s tooth after following him for several blocks while yelling racial slurs. He has been charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing and aggravated harassment.
Radinovskiy, who was arraigned Thursday, was released without bail and is due back in court on May 17. He was also ordered to stay away from the YouTuber.
“You got something against my flag?” the victim recalled Radinoskiy barking at him during the alleged assault. “I’m going to beat the s–t out of you Russians.”
The Brooklyn man said he believes Radinoskiy assumed he was intentionally provoking or antagonizing him with the flag, but insists that’s not the case.
“I didn’t look around before I open packages,” he said. “Now I have to if there is an individual that would be offended by the contents which I’m unaware of.”
The flag won’t adorn the victim’s home or anywhere else, he said.
“I put it on a shelf with all the other stuff that people send me,” he continued.
The alleged hate crime victim said Friday he still has swelling on his chin, as well as a looming dental visit to fix his damaged tooth.
“I have to go to the dentist to cover the chip,” he told The Post.
Radinovskiy declined to comment when reached at his home, saying only “good for him” when told about the victim’s claims, before droving away in a black BMW.
[ad_2]