SBU issues in absentia suspicion notices to invaders involved in beheading of Ukrainian POWs

Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) has collected evidence against two more Russian war criminals involved in the mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Donetsk region.

In its telegram channel on Wednesday, the SBU noted that these are Shota Karapetyan (callsign "Yustas"), deputy commander of the 1st motorized rifle battalion of the 394th motorized rifle regiment of the 127th motorized rifle division of the 5th combined arms army of the Russian Federation, as well as Dmitry Chikhabakh (callsign "Sber").

"On June 17, 2024, they ordered their subordinates to shoot a Ukrainian prisoner of war, and then cut off his head and put it on the hood of a damaged armored car," the SBU said.

According to the SBU, this happened during the fighting near the village of Staromayorske, Volnovakha district. Then both defendants gave the order to their subordinates not to leave the captured soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine alive and to brutally kill them.

According to the materials of military counterintelligence and investigators of the Security Service, Chikhabakh and Karapetyan were reported in absentia on suspicion under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war).

Currently, comprehensive measures are underway to find and punish both war criminals of the aggressor country.

The investigation was conducted by SBU officers in Donetsk and Luhansk regions under the procedural leadership of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office.