News
The Kyiv regional prosecutor's office and the Kyiv-Svyatoshino district prosecutor's office have opened a criminal case against five Russian servicemen and three members of the Wagner PMC. In particular, they are accused of the murder of the village head and her family in Motyzhyn, the attack on the volunteers who delivered humanitarian aid and the murder of two employees of the Patriot organization, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reports.
«During the occupation of parts of the Kyiv region, the suspects robbed civilians, tortured, killed and burned their homes. They are charged with 14 counts of violence against civilians. Only three people managed to survive their torture,» the Prosecutor General's office said in a statement.
The investigators believe that in March 2022, the suspects illegally detained Olga Suhenko, village head of Motyzhyn, Kyiv region, together with her husband Igor and son Alexander. They were taken to a temporary Russian military base.
«The occupants tortured the captives, trying to get information about the AFU and the territorial defense. In front of his mother's eyes, the son was shot in the leg and then killed with a shot to the head. The village head was tortured in the same way. The entire family died of multiple gunshot wounds,» reads the report of the Prosecutor General.
The bodies of Suhenko and her family were found after Russian troops retreated in early April.
The suspects are also accused of killing one of Motyzhyn's residents because she was «dressed in black.» «Her father was then taken prisoner and held blindfolded and handcuffed for a long time without water or food,» the report says.
The eight military servicemen are accused of killing two members of Patriot, whose bodies were found with «multiple gunshot wounds.» In addition, the Prosecutor General's statement says:
«The occupants also detained two volunteers who were trying to bring humanitarian aid to occupied Motyzhyn. After interrogation and torture, they were taken to a wooded area and ordered to run, then shot them in the back. One of the volunteers was shot in the head and another was wounded. The occupants took the vehicles and humanitarian aid,» the report says.
The pre-trial investigation and operational support in the criminal proceedings are carried out by the investigation department of the SBU Main Directorate for Kyiv and the Kyiv region.
On May 23, a court in Kyiv sentenced Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin to life in prison. Shishimarin is the first Russian accused of war crimes in Ukraine. He had earlier pleaded guilty in a Kyiv court.
According to the investigation, on February 28, the squad leader of the 4th Tank Kantemirovskaya Division Shishimarin shot and killed a 62-year-old resident of the village of Chupakhovka, Sumy region. Prior to that, Shishimarin's convoy had been destroyed by the AFU. Fleeing the battlefield, the sergeant and four other Russian soldiers fired on a private car and hijacked it. As they drove the stolen car into the village, they killed a man who was returning home on his bicycle and speaking on the phone. One of the soldiers ordered Shishimarin to kill the civilian to stop him from reporting them to the Ukrainian military.