More than 120 thousand residents of Donbass have been recognized as victims of the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists since 2014, Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 

“More than 120,000 residents of Donbass have been recognized as victims in cases under investigation.

Criminal prosecution is carried out against 665 persons.

Decisions were issued to bring 390 persons as defendants, 178 of them in person.

Among the defendants there are 115 persons from among the commanders and leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

132 defendants were arrested in absentia,” Bastrykin said.

According to him, a total of 2,406 criminal cases have been initiated since 2014, of which 1,752 cases are based on shelling of the territories of the DPR and LPR, as a result of which 4.9 thousand people were killed and 8.8 thousand people were injured.

He also announced the completion of an investigation into 138 criminal cases on the use by Ukrainian military personnel of prohibited means and methods of warfare, as well as ill-treatment of the civilian population and prisoners of war.

The day before, Bastrykin held an operational meeting in Donetsk of the headquarters for the investigation of crimes committed by the AFU against the civilian population and Russian military personnel.

The press service of the Investigative Committee noted that in the course of the investigation of criminal cases on war crimes of Ukrainian nationalists in Mariupol, materials on electronic media were studied, from which it follows that the command of the Azov special forces units * reported the operational situation and the course of hostilities to the highest military political leadership of Ukraine.

At the same time, the leaders of the Kyiv regime in response "received criminal orders to keep the defense of the city by any, even prohibited methods and means."

In addition, the head of the department was informed about the measures to create a DNA database of unidentified civilians, whose bodies were discovered after the liberation of Mariupol and other settlements of Donbass and buried in unmarked graves.

“This measure will primarily help identify the victims and establish the circumstances of the crimes committed against them.

In order to implement this task, a working group was formed, which included investigators, experts from the SEC and forensic specialists from the State Criminal Investigation Committee, who began work in this direction, ”the message says.

At the end of December 2022, following a similar meeting of the operational headquarters, the Investigative Committee reported that in Mariupol, after the city was liberated from the Ukrainian military, the bodies of more than 3,000 civilians were found.

“Unable to leave the city and moving in search of food, civilians became a living target for Ukrainian punishers who killed them with various types of weapons.

So, only in April 2022, the bodies of 51 civilians were found at the positions abandoned by the Ukrainian troops, and after the complete liberation and examination of the city, their number amounted to more than 3 thousand,” the message said.

In this regard, a criminal case was initiated against the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny and other Ukrainian military leaders, in particular the commander of the operation of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavlyuk.

At the same time, the commander of the 12th operational brigade of the eastern territorial association of the National Guard of Ukraine, Colonel Shlegy, the commander of the 12th operational brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, a separate special-purpose detachment "Azov", Major Prokopenko, and other officials of various Ukrainian military formations became defendants in the case, initiated under the article on the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare.

In addition, the Investigative Committee calculated that the total damage caused to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics from Ukrainian shelling exceeded 228 billion rubles.

* 

"Azov" - the organization was recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 08/02/2022.