Ukraine's Office of Prosecutor General releases evidence of another Russian war crime in Bucha

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has filed in absentia charges against a Russian serviceman who shot a civilian in the Bucha district on the Kyiv–Chop motorway in 2022.

Source: Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko on social media

Details: According to the investigation, in March 2022, during the temporary occupation of Kyiv Oblast, a driver-mechanic from the 2nd crew of a tank company of the 212th district training centre of tank troops of Russia's Eastern Military District, together with other Russian soldiers, opened fire with automatic weapons on a civilian car on the Kyiv–Chop motorway near the village of Myla in the Bucha district, close to petrol stations.

They fired at least 63 shots at the vehicle, which was travelling from Kyiv to Zhytomyr.

After the shooting, the suspect approached the car and, seeing a seriously wounded civilian man in the driver's seat, fired several more shots into his head. The man died at the scene from his gunshot wounds.

The prosecutor's office published intercepted radio communications in which the Russian soldier describes his actions. He says a battalion commander had ordered them to shoot at cars:

"Today another Land Cruiser drove past. I hit it. There was a middle-aged man, about 35… He was wheezing, so I finished him off with my rifle, set the car on fire – he burned," the transcript reads.

Quote from Kravchenko: "The case against the driver-mechanic of a tank company of the 212th district training centre of the Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces has been referred to court.

Among the evidence are intercepted conversations in which the suspect confesses to the crime, as well as testimony from another Russian serviceman who witnessed the killing.

Behind the identification of each such individual are months of work by investigators and prosecutors…

This is not a single episode. It is part of a large-scale, systematic effort that brings together thousands of facts of war crimes committed by Russia into a single body of evidence. It is cases like these that form the foundation for the Special Tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine."

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