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Russia presses charges against Ukraine’s defense minister, top brass for Donbass attacks

The case has been opened into the use of prohibited means of warfare

Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov

Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak

© AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) said on Wednesday it has launched a criminal case against Ukraine’s defense minister and its chief of general staff over the artillery shelling of civilians in Donbass.

“The investigators have received sufficient data that illegal actions against civilians were carried out on orders of Ukraine’s top military leadership,” the investigative committee said.

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Kiev opens criminal case against Russian defense minister, other top officials

A criminal case has been opened into the use of prohibited means of warfare.

Criminal charges have been filed against Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, Chief of General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Sergey Popko, former Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Anatoly Pushnyakov and the Commander of Ukraine’s National Guard Yuri Allerov.

Russia’s Investigative Committee is currently conducting an investigation into the illegal use of prohibited means of warfare by Ukraine’s armed forces in the country’s southeast. Investigators have obtained facts that the Ukrainians have repeatedly violated the ceasefire regime in the region this year.

On Monday, Ukrainian Chief Prosecutor Yuri Lutsenko told reporters the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has opened a criminal case against Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and 17 other high-ranking officials.

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Ukraine crisis Foreign policy

Military operation in Ukraine

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