3 Russian soldiers to be tried for dismemberment of farmer and massive looting

Three Russian soldiers will be tried for the dismemberment of a farmer with the nickname Vuiko and mass robberies of the civilian population in Kharkiv Oblast.

Source: Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office; Ukrainska Pravda 

Details: These are two servicemen of the 7th Separate Motorised Rifle Regiment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Vitaly Poddubny and Aleksei Gorbunov, as well as Ruslan Goncharov, a soldier from the 202nd Motorised Rifle Regiment of Russia, whom Ukrainian law enforcement officers identified in December 2023.

The Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office approved and sent to the court an indictment against three Russian soldiers on charges of violation of the laws and customs of war, committed by prior agreement by a group of persons, and against Poddubny, also of premeditated murder.

During the occupation of the Izium and Kupiansk districts of Kharkiv Oblast, these Russian invaders repeatedly took away property from local residents, threatening to shoot them. 

According to the investigation, on 13 March 2022, the defendants arrived at the house in the village of Volokhiv Yar, Iziumsky district, where a civil man and his family were staying at that time. Poddubny, who goes under the alias Fanat (Fan), threatening to use weapons, began to extract information about pro-Ukrainian citizens, primarily the victim's brother, who is a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Having received no information, the Russian military ordered him to hand over the car. Fearing for the lives of his small children, the victim handed over his car keys.

The Russians used the car solely for their own purposes and even managed to get into an accident because they were intoxicated. And it was in this car that, on 31 July, they arrived at a farm in the village of Bezmiatezhne, Kupiansk district, owned by a man with an active pro-Ukrainian stance, originally from Zakarpattia. His fellow villagers called him Vuiko. 

Poddubny got out of the car and told the farm owner to approach him under the pretext of helping him repair the car. When the farmer approached him, the occupier shot him in the head. The man fell to the ground and died on the spot.

After that, the defendants dismembered the body of the deceased, put some parts in the car in which the Russians arrived, and set it on fire. To conceal the crime, they took the severed parts of the farmer's body and threw them away on the way to the village of Vyshneve, Kupiansk district. 

In addition, law enforcement officers established two more episodes of criminal activity by the Russians. In the cooperative dacha community, they stole a boat engine, which they later sold. The defendants also seized the vehicles belonging to the community. To overcome the resistance of the guards, they ordered them to lie face down on the ground.  In case of disobedience, they threatened to shoot them. [A cooperative dacha community is an association of persons, each of whom has a dacha plot within the same territory – ed.]

Quote from the Prosecutor's Office: "The defendants are currently on the wanted list. They will be tried in absentia in the Ordzhonikidze District Court of Kharkiv.

Two of the defendants face eight to twelve years in prison for their crimes, while Fanat faces life imprisonment." 

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