Russia’s Investigative Committee has brought charges in absentia against four Colonels of the Ukrainian military, Khamovnichesky Court in Moscow has told TASS. The commanders of Kiev’s units are being accused of mass murder, it added.
Khamovnichesky Court has received petitions for the arrest in absentia of Colonels Pavel Fedosenko, Fedor Yaroshevich and Andrey Matviishin, the court’s representative told the agency on Thursday. Another Ukrainian colonel, Dmitry Khrapach, had earlier been indicted in absentia, according to the representative.
The accused have been charged in accordance with Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code, the murder of two or more persons, and, if convicted, could face a penalty of up to life imprisonment, the court said.
However, the essence of the accusations against the four Ukrainian officers has not been disclosed, TASS stressed.
Kommersant newspaper reported that the colonels are also accused of using prohibited means and methods of war. The investigators believe that the commanders acted as organizers of the alleged crimes, which were then carried out by their subordinates, the paper said.
According to TASS, Khrapach is the commander of the 27th Rocket Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Last August, he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by a court in Russia’s People’s Republic of Donetsk over the shelling of the region’s capital from multiple rocket launch systems.
Yaroshevich headed the Ukrainian military’s 19th Missile Brigade until 2023. According to Kommersant, the Colonel had previously been indicted in absentia by Basmanny Court in Moscow, for the use of prohibited means of warfare, including a strike on a train station in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk in the People’s Republic of Donetsk last April.
Authorities in Kiev, which blamed the Kramatorsk attack on Russia, said that it had left 63 people dead and 150 wounded. Moscow insists, however, that it was a “barbaric act” by Ukraine, stressing that the Soviet-made Tochka-U ballistic missile, which had been used in the deadly attack, is only operated by Kiev’s forces and not by the Russian military.
Fedosenko currently commands the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, while Matviishin heads the 8th Separate Special Forces Regiment, according to TASS.