The Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the detention of civilians in the border community of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Region.
This is stated in a statement by the prosecutor's office.
According to the investigation, during the offensive of the Russian army, the occupiers forcibly detained and continue to detain people in the basement of the Vovchansk community. The locals were placed in the room on 11 May 2024.
Some of them managed to escape on 13 May and reached the volunteers. The people are now safe.
The victims said that while they were in the basement, they heard Russian soldiers talking about the need to shoot civilians. People were also forced to provide medical assistance to the occupiers.
These actions of the representatives of the aggressor state are a direct violation of the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, signed in Geneva on 12 August 1949, to which Ukraine and the Russian Federation are parties, among others.
Under the procedural supervision of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) was initiated.