Ukrainian troops occupying part of Russia’s Kursk Region have been abducting and sexually abusing local residents, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s special mission to investigate alleged Ukrainian war crimes, Rodion Miroshnik, has claimed.
In an interview with RIA Novosti on Thursday, Miroshnik confirmed numerous earlier reports alleging that Ukrainian forces – including foreign mercenaries – have engaged in numerous atrocities against the civilian population since the start of the large-scale incursion on August 6.
“We have evidence of sexual violence committed by both foreign mercenaries and Ukrainian radicals,” he stated, suggesting that the Ukrainian leadership had deployed “all of its scum” to Kursk Region in an apparent effort to get them out of the country and “dispose” of them.
Other apparent crimes by Kiev’s forces include abductions, Miroshnik claimed. “We have data that Ukrainian militants are taking action to kidnap people. They are snatching civilians and taking them away to an unknown location. We often lose contact with them. Where are they taken? To Ukrainian territory, or to secret prisons?” he asked.
Ukrainian forces are acting like brazen “terrorists,” and often do not provide any information to the families of those abducted, Miroshnik said. He noted that while Russia has “preliminary lists” of those in Ukrainian custody, they are by no means complete, adding that in some cases Moscow has only “fragmentary data” and testimony about people who were “forced into trucks and taken in an unknown direction.”
At the same time, Miroshnik noted that Moscow continues to gather information on Ukrainian mercenaries. “More than 4,000 mercenaries have been accurately identified… In absentia investigations have been completed on some of them.”
Since the start of Ukraine’s large-scale invasion of Kursk Region earlier in August, Moscow has accused Kiev of committing numerous atrocities against civilians, including conducting indiscriminate strikes. The Russian Defense Ministry says that Kiev’s advance has been halted, and that Ukraine has lost up to 7,000 troops since the start of the attack.