Ukraine Charges 8 Russian Fighters in Killings of Village Mayor and Family

Eight Russian troopers and mercenaries had been charged on Tuesday with the homicide of the mayor of a small Kyiv suburb and her household, Ukraine’s prosecutor basic stated.

The mayor, Olha Sukhenko, was present in a shallow grave in her village, Motyzhyn, about 30 miles west of Kyiv, on April 2, after Russians withdrew from their positions across the capital. Her husband and son had been buried along with her.

The prosecutor basic, Irina Venediktova, stated 5 of the accused males had been troopers within the Russian Military and three had been a part of the personal army group Wagner, which is run by a businessman near President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The troopers included two lieutenants and three sergeants from one unit, the thirty seventh Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade.

“They kidnapped Olga Sukhenko, her husband and son from the house of the village of Motizhyn,” Ms. Venediktova wrote on Fb, publishing the names and images of all eight males.

She stated that, in March, the lads detained Ms. Sukhenko and her members of the family and took them to a home they had been utilizing as a base. There, she stated, the Russian fighters “tortured them, attempting to beat out data” concerning the Ukrainian Military and protection forces. The prosecutor stated the Russians killed Ms. Sukhenko’s son in entrance of her.

“They first shot her son within the leg after which killed him with a shot within the head,” she wrote. “The entire household died from a number of gunshot wounds.”

She stated the group of accused troopers and mercenaries additionally terrorized different civilians, torturing and killing them, in addition to pillaging and destroying their properties.

Ms. Venediktova requested that anybody with related details about the troopers and mercenaries share it with the web site the prosecution has established to gather testimony about struggle crimes.