The servicemen of the Russian armed forces killed Ukrainian civilians in the occupied Kreminna (Luhansk Oblast, eastern Ukraine), the Russian Telegram channel ASTRA reported on 29 January.
This is not the first time Russian soldiers have killed civilians in Ukraine. Russia’s attacks on unarmed Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories – torture, sexual violence, murder, and forcible detentions – are war crimes that are systemic in nature.
According to ASTRA, the bodies of a 60-year-old woman, her 37-year-old daughter, and 41-year-old son-in-law with gunshot wounds were found in the Russian-occupied city of Kreminna on 26 January 2024. Relatives of the murdered family said that the 37-year-old woman named Alla had an 18-year-old daughter who survived, ASTRA reported.
“They just did it for fun”: Ukrainian survivors detail Wagner group horrors
Russian war criminals who killed the Ukrainian family have been identified. According to ASTRA, the murderers of Ukrainian civilians are three Russian servicemen, Fidan Hayerzamanov, Igor Dmitriev, and Azamat Gareev.
Fidan Hayerzamanov, a 33-year-old soldier of the Russian military unit 12271, was detained by the Russian occupation forces for killing civilians, ASTRA reported. His companions, 30-year-old Igor Dmitriev and 39-year-old Azamat Gareev, are also wanted by Russian occupation authorities.
According to ASTRA, the motives for the murder are currently unknown.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces have committed a series of atrocities, exemplified by the unearthing of mass graves and torture facilities in liberated cities such as Bucha (Kyiv Oblast, northern Ukraine) and Izium (Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine).
In March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion, the president of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Federico Villegas Beltrán, announced the establishment of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. This commission is investigating all alleged violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) during the Russian war against Ukraine. The commission has found numerous cases of inhuman treatment by Russian occupation authorities in Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Related:
- UN report accuses Russia of war crimes in Ukraine: Torture, sexual violence, and murder revealed
- Bucha – a turning point in Russia’s war in Ukraine and relations with the world
- Russian rockets attack civilian residences in Ukraine’s Myrnohrad at night, injuring three, including 15-year-old
- Russian troops execute Ukrainian POWs in southeastern Ukraine
- Russia continues demolishing buildings in occupied Mariupol to conceal its crimes against civilians, Ukraine says
- Top-10 Russian genocidal quotes about Ukraine