MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. More than 22,000 citizens of Ukraine’s southeast have been named victims in a criminal probe carried out by Russia’s Investigative Committee into Kiev's war crimes in Donbass, official spokesman Vladimir Markin told TASS on Thursday.
"Now the Investigative Committee continues investigating the criminal case into serious and grave crimes against peace, security and humanity committed by the representatives of Ukraine’s security structures in Donbass," Markin said.
"Fifty three criminal cases into the events in Ukraine’s southeast have been combined into one probe. More than 130,000 people were interrogated as witnesses and victims, and over 22,000 of them have been recognized as victims," he said.
According to Russia’s Interior Ministry, more than 1 million citizens of Ukraine’s war-torn southeast fled to Russia from April 1, 2014 to August 30, 2016. More than 400,000 Ukrainian citizens sought asylum in Russia and another 200,000 applied for Russia’s citizenship, Markin reminded.