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The Department for investigative crimes connected with the use of prohibited ways and methods of warfare of the Investigative Committee’s Head Office continues looking into crimes committed by the Ukraine’s army in Donbass.

An investigation has been opened today in the use of prohibited ways and methods of warfare under Part 1 of Article 356 of the RF Penal Code following multiple instances of shelling houses in the city of Donetsk from 27 February to 2 March 2017. Two civilians were killed in the bombings and more than 10 houses were damaged.

One of the occasions when Tochka-U was used was registered in the settlement of Rovenki in 2014. By now the Investigative Committed in close cooperation with operative services has established that commander of the 19^th separate rocket brigade of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces Colonel Fyodor Yaroshevich was involved in the crime. The investigators believe that it was he who on 22 August 2014 gave an order to launch tactic rockets at Rovenki. The shelling killed three people, including a 5-year-old child. At present, the investigators continue identifying persons involved in that and other similar crimes.

Indiscriminate weapons can hardly be used by accident. And it’s even harder to believe explanations by Ukrainian authorities that the rocket control system had failed considering that Tochka-U was used several times under similar conditions. This makes it evident that the actions of certain officials inside the Ukrainian army were deliberate and investigators believe that they make up a crime under Part 1 of Article 356 of the RF Penal Code. At the same time the Ukrainian military violated the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Geneva, 1949) and its follow-up protocol II.

The Russia’s Investigative Committee is going to keep on documenting crimes against peace and safety of humanity being committed in southeast Ukraine. The investigators are going to look into all the crimes the Ukraine army have committed against civilians, their compatriots. Such crimes have no statute of limitations and the evidence we have collected will sooner or later be presented to courts trying those who give and followed criminal orders.

Acting Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                   S.L. Petrenko