Russian General responsible for siege of Azovstal will be tried in absentia in Ukraine

An indictment based on the information of the special investigation has been sent to the court within the case of Andrei Mordvichev, Lieutenant General of the Russian army, who gave the order to storm the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Source: Press service of the Prosecutor's Office of Donetsk Oblast

Details: As a commander of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces from 24 February to May 2022, Mordvichev led subordinate units during the invasion of Donetsk Oblast.

The officer is accused of committing deliberate actions by prior conspiracy of a group of persons to change the borders of the territory or state border of Ukraine in violation of the order established by the Constitution of Ukraine, which led to the death of people or other grave consequences, as well as of the conduct of an aggressive war.

The pre-trial investigation established that while inspecting command posts of the army of occupiers in Mariupol, Mangush, Nikolske, Staryi Krym, the villages of Kalchik, Shevchenko, Zhovtneve and Priazovske of the Mariupol district, the Lieutenant General was in charge of military planning, coordination and management of Russian military formations.

Mordvichev also ordered shelling of civilians in Donetsk Oblast and occupation of the region.

The accused participated in a meeting with the heads of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation and developed a plan for the complete capture of besieged Mariupol and the storming of the Azovstal metallurgical plant, where Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen and civilians were blocked in partially destroyed bomb shelters.

In addition, he coordinated the actions of subordinate formations to intensify the assault on the enterprise and the murder of Ukrainian military commanders.

Currently, the Russian is hiding from the investigation; therefore, he is wanted, according to the Prosecutor's Office in Donetsk Oblast.

Background:

• In March 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Mordvichev was killed in Ukraine, but Russia said that this was not the case.
• According to the Russian service of the BBC, Mordvichev became known to the general public thanks to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader. When Kadyrov's troops were ridiculed, called "TikTok troops", the head of Chechnya arrived near Mariupol and hugged General Mordvichev on camera.
• At the end of September 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine announced that it had identified the Russian general who ordered the capture of Mariupol and the storming of Azovstal. It turned out to be Mordvichev.
• He was informed that he was under suspicion under theee articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
• In February 2023, Russian media reported that Mordvichev was appointed the new commander of the troops of Russia's Central Military District.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!