Russian soldiers kill family and neighbors in Ukraine's Donetsk region

According to the investigation, a couple and their adult son were hiding in the basement of a private house, while their younger son went to a neighbor's house to fetch water. Russian soldiers broke into the shelter and interrogated the family about the location of Ukrainian troops, but after receiving no information, they left.

"However, one of the soldiers returned and opened fire with an automatic weapon on the civilians. Believing they were dead, he left," the statement said.

When the 57-year-old woman regained consciousness, she saw that her relatives had been killed. Worried about her younger son, the mother went to a nearby basement, where she found his body next to the shot neighbors — a 62-year-old woman and her 30-year-old son.

The injured woman, who had a gunshot wound to the jaw, managed to reach the territory controlled by Ukraine and was taken to a hospital. Prosecutors interviewed her and recorded the testimony as evidence of another war crime.

The prosecutor's office has launched a pre-trial investigation under Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — a war crime that resulted in the deaths of civilians.

Urgent investigative and search actions are currently underway to establish all the circumstances of the incident and identify the Russian soldiers involved.

War crimes of the Russian army

Russian forces systematically commit war crimes. Recently, a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group managed to infiltrate the center of Pokrovsk and kill several civilians. However, Ukrainian forces detected and eliminated them inside the railway station building.

The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) also released an intercepted conversation in which Russian soldiers said they had received orders to kill civilians near Pokrovsk.

Earlier, near Kramatorsk, Russian soldiers shot an entire family and took a child hostage.