The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has served suspicion notices to two Russian generals and a lieutenant colonel who commanded the shelling of Kherson and killed 24 civilians, the SBU press service reports.
"We are talking about Colonel General Oleg Makarevych, commander of the Dnipro group of Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Arkadiy Marzoyev, commander of the 22nd Army Corps of the Black Sea Fleet of the aggressor country, and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Zharkikh, commander of the 8th Artillery Regiment of Coastal Defence of the 22nd Army Corps of Coastal Troops of the Russian Black Sea Fleet," the agency said in a statement.
Under their leadership, the invaders carried out a massive shelling of the regional centre on 3 May this year. As a result of the Russian attack, 24 civilians were killed and 51 others sustained injuries of varying severity.
"Then the occupiers fired rocket and cannon artillery at a residential high-rise building, private houses, a shopping centre, a railway station, a petrol station and other civilian objects," the SBU said.
According to the investigation, the order for the enemy shelling of Kherson was given by General Makarevych. In his order, he ordered his subordinates to fire on the Ukrainian city without distinguishing between civilian and military targets.
After receiving this directive, his accomplice, General Marzoyev, prepared a massive attack on the regional centre, and another defendant, Zharkikh, directly commanded the enemy shelling.
Based on the evidence collected by the SBU, the three Russian war criminals were served suspicion notices under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- part 2 Article 28, part 2 Article 437 (planning, preparation, unleashing and waging of an aggressive war committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy);
- part 2 Art. 28, para. 2 Art. 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy).