A court in southern Russia has sentenced two Russian soldiers to life in prison a year after the killing of nine Ukrainian citizens, including two children.
Investigators say the two suspects entered a house in the town of Volnovakha, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which is home to Russian soldiers. They then shot and killed a family of three generations with their silent weapons.
The defendants deny the case and have announced that they will appeal the decision, said the report of the Russian news agency Tass on Friday.
Initially, the motive was said to be an attempt to obtain vodka, which is not allowed to soldiers in active service. However, the verdict states that the perpetrators killed “due to political hatred, ideology, racism, nationality or religion”.
The case was closed.
Kiev has repeatedly accused the Russian military of committing serious crimes in the war zone. Moscow generally denies such crimes have taken place, and the Russian parliament has even passed a law making it a crime to “insult” the Russian military.
Public reports of such judgments – especially on such grounds that confirm Ukraine’s accusations – are considered relatively rare.
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