The Investigative Committee’s Head Office has opened 4 more investigations in the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare under Part 1 of Article 356 of the RF Criminal Code after shelling of Donbass by the Ukrainian army.

According to investigators, on 13 and 17 May 2017, military servants of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces and National Guard followed criminal orders of higher commander of the Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense and fired heavy artillery weapons at civilian infrastructure in the town of Dokuchayevsk, the settlement of Kominternovo, Novoazovsk District, the settlements of Kashtanovoye and Krutaya Balka, Yasinovataya District, Donetsk Region of Ukraine. The shelling killed 2 civilians and wounded four more. Nobody of the killed or wounded were taking part in the armed conflict.

Investigators believe that the officials of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces and National Guard who made the strikes, acted intentionally with the purpose to kill or wound civilians in southeastern Ukraine. The motive for this one and many other similar crimes is political and ideological hatred as the population of the southeastern Ukraine refuse to recognize the current authority as legitimate and want to create isolated administrative-territorial entities.

At present, the investigators are looking into all the circumstances surrounding the crimes and are identifying those who gave and followed the illegal orders of using heavy weapons with high destructive power against civilians.

Official spokesperson for the RF Investigative Committee                                                          S.L. Petrenko