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Ukraine Charges Three Russian Troops Over 2022 Execution of Civilian in Hostomel
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Russian soldiers have been formally accused of executing a civilian in Hostomel during the early stages of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office issued suspicion notices to three servicemen following an investigation into the 2022 killing, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office on March 2.
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The investigation states that during the occupation of the Bucha district in March 2022, a commander of a Russian paratrooper assault company ordered his subordinates to shoot a local resident. Prosecutors describe the command as a “knowingly criminal order” carried out while the town was under Russian control.
“The occupiers stopped an unarmed man on the street who was in civilian clothes and did not take part in hostilities. Having followed the order, they shot the Ukrainian with automatic weapons. From the received gunshot wound to the head, the victim died on the spot,” the report says.
Authorities established that the soldiers were fully aware the victim was a civilian. The commander is facing charges of violating the laws and customs of war combined with intentional murder, while his subordinates are suspected of committing a war crime by prior conspiracy.
The Prosecutor General’s Office noted that the case was built on several investigative steps, including the exhumation of the body, witness interviews, and identification procedures. The office emphasized that the intentional killing of civilians is a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions.
The Kyiv region was partially occupied from February 24 until late March 2022. After the withdrawal of Russian forces in early April, numerous reports of civilian killings and evidence of atrocities were documented across liberated towns and villages.
Moscow has consistently denied that its military has committed war crimes since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier, the Office of the Prosecutor General announced a notice of suspicion to a Russian army platoon commander who was implicated in the murders of at least 17 civilians in Bucha. The investigation determined that in March 2022, during the occupation of the Kyiv region, servicemen from the 234th Airborne Assault Brigade took control of the “Lisova Bucha” district and carried out searches, torture, and murders of pro-Ukrainian civilians.
The platoon commander actively subverted the rules of engagement and created a system where violence against civilians became the unit’s normal conduct.
Investigators built the case by questioning over 330 victims and witnesses, performing dozens of investigative experiments, and conducting exhumations to precisely reconstruct the events.
-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
