Russian Solders Arrested For Allegedly Killing A Family Of Nine

Two Russian soldiers have been accused of brutally killing a family of nine, including two children, in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha.

The two soldiers have been arrested in connection with the killings, according to Russian investigators. Meanwhile, Ukraine has also launched an investigation into the matter. This is the first known case of Russia taking action against its soldiers accused of killing civilians.

According to Russian media reports, the alleged killings took place last Friday night. Several reports have claimed that the suspects used machine guns with silencers to commit the crime.

Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a Telegram post that "Russians' bloodied hands were involved" in the Volnovakha killings.

It added that "the occupiers have killed the whole of the Kapkanets family, who were celebrating a birthday and who had refused to hand their own house over to occupiers from Chechnya".

Ukrainian officials claimed that the accused killed the family for refusing to give them their house. However, Russian investigators have claimed that "the motive for the crime was a domestic conflict".

They said that the arrested soldiers were from the country's Far East after signing contracts with the Russian military. The images of the incident that have gone viral on social media show blood-splattered and bullet-riddled bodies in beds. Some of the bodies could be seen still locked in an embrace.

The industrial town of Volnovakha came under Russian occupation soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, per a report in The New York Times.

Russian soldiers have also been accused of rape and sexual violence. It is also not the first time that Ukraine has accused Russia of war crimes by targeting civilians.

They have been accused of committing rampant war crimes in Ukraine and against non-combatant civilians. However, the Russian government has dismissed all such claims.

The Russian war in Ukraine has dragged into its second year with no end in sight. Thousands of soldiers have lost their lives on both sides since the beginning of the war. Russia has had to resort to mass conscription to increase its military strength.

It called up around 300,000 reservists to fight in the war in September last year. It was the first time since World War II that reservists were called up to fight.

Tens of thousands of military-age men had taken to the streets to hold demonstrations against the order. But that did not deter Vladimir Putin from going ahead with the plan. The setbacks in the war, international condemnation, and isolation have been unable to force Putin to stop the war that has claimed thousands of lives.