Two Ukrainian Soldiers Killed in Knife Attack in Germany, Russian Suspect Arrested

German police reported two men being critically injured on Saturday evening, April 27, in a shopping center in the city of Murnau, Bavaria, Germany. One of the men, a 36-year-old, died on the scene before the paramedics arrived; the second 23-year-old man died later that day in the hospital.

A 57-year-old suspected Russian national was arrested in his residence, not far from the crime scene.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine confirmed the incident, stating the two killed Ukrainians were military men undergoing rehabilitation in Germany.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, instructed the Department of the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General in Munich to keep the case under special control and to be in constant contact with the law enforcement agencies of Germany, so that the murderer gets punished according to the law.

Kuleba has also expressed his gratitude to German law enforcement for the prompt arrest of the suspect.

This is not the first incident of recent crimes against Ukrainians in Germany. A 27-year-old Ukrainian woman was found dead in Germany on March 14. Later, her mother was also found dead. According to the German police, the refugee and her mother were previously reported missing. A couple, a 44-year-old German man and a 43-year-old Russian woman, was detained on suspicion of committing the murders and kidnapping the woman’s five-week-old child.  

Another stabbing incident occurred on February 12, where two Ukrainian basketball players were assaulted by a knife. The 17-year-old Volodymyr Yermakov died immediately, and the 18-year-old Artem Kozachenko died from injuries on February 20. The perpetrator is believed to be a 15-year-old schoolboy of German-Turkish descent from Gelsenkirchen. 

The two young men were allegedly attacked for being Ukrainians.