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Ukraine Accuses Captured Russian Soldier of Executing Five Unarmed Troops, Killing Civilian
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Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has charged a captured Russian soldier with killing five unarmed Ukrainian servicemen and a civilian, according to the Security Service of Ukraine on October 15.
The suspect was identified as 36-year-old St. Petersburg resident Leonid Ryzhikov, call sign “Yula.” He served in the 2nd Battalion of Russia’s 1009th Motorized Rifle Regiment, part of the 68th Motorized Rifle Division.
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The SBU stated that Ryzhikov fled Russian positions near Starytsia in the Kharkiv region after coming under Ukrainian fire on October 5-6. Armed with an AK-74, he moved toward Kharkiv on foot and stole civilian clothing from an abandoned house.
Investigators allege that on October 13, Ryzhikov shot and killed a 60-year-old civilian fishing near Mykhailivka before pushing his body into the water. Later that day, he allegedly entered a house in Momotove and killed five Ukrainian servicemen who were unarmed and wearing civilian clothes. Some were asleep at the time.
The SBU noted that the five servicemen were not participating in hostilities at the time and were protected under the Geneva Convention. Ryzhikov allegedly hid his rifle near a gardening community and continued toward Kharkiv while concealing himself in forest belts.
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The SBU, National Police, and National Guard detained Ryzhikov in Kharkiv’s Saltivskyi district on October 14 and recovered his AK-74. He was charged under Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code for war crimes resulting in deaths and faces life imprisonment.
Violence by Russian servicemen in the Kharkiv region has also turned inward.
On October 25, 2025, Alexey Korolev, a soldier recruited from prison after seven criminal convictions, allegedly shot dead six fellow troops and wounded two others near Lyman Pershyi during Russia's offensive around Kupiansk.
Among the dead was a specialist from the FSB's highly classified 16th Center, a unit focused on signals intelligence and cyber espionage. Korolev now faces murder and extortion charges in a closed-door military court in temporarily occupied Donetsk.
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