Russian Commander To be Tried for Killing Civilians
The charred remains of a local resident in the village of Lypivka led to the identification of the senior lieutenant.
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Tuesday, 25 June ‘24
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Russian Commander To be Tried for Killing Civilians
The charred remains of a local resident in the village of Lypivka led to the identification of the senior lieutenant.
![Russian senior lieutenant Vasiliy Litvinenko is accused of ordering the killing of civilians during the occupation of the village of Lypivka, in Kyiv region, in March 2022. He is accused of ordering his subordinates to shoot an elderly civilian man while he was in his courtyard [pictured] and then fire at his house from a tank.](https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_glossy+ret_img/https://iwpr.net/sites/default/files/styles/focus_main_image_932_x_580_/public/images/story/ukraine-Vasiliy-Litvinenko-Lypivka-village.jpg?h=c20353c4 "Russian senior lieutenant Vasiliy Litvinenko is accused of ordering the killing of civilians during the occupation of the village of Lypivka, in Kyiv region, in March 2022. He is accused of ordering his subordinates to shoot an elderly civilian man while he was in his courtyard [pictured] and then fire at his house from a tank.")
Kyiv prosecutors have referred the case of a Russian senior lieutenant suspected of ordering troops to kill civilians during the occupation of the Kyiv region to the court.
According to the investigation, 32-year-old Vasiliy Litvinenko, from Russia’s far eastern region of Khabarovsk, led the 64th separate motorised rifle brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. On February 27, 2022, he and his subordinates were in the village of Lypivka, Buchansky district, 60 kilometres west of the capital Kyiv. Russian forces occupied the village, with a pre-war population of about 1,000 people, in the first days of the invasion and retreated on March 30, leaving behind nearly 20 residential buildings entirely destroyed.
Residents told journalists that when the Russians entered the village, they moved along the central street, shooting at everything and everyone on their route. They fired at houses and at the back of people who ran to hide. The commander reportedly ordered his subordinates to brutalise civilians, destroy residential buildings and kill villagers.
After the Russians left, the charred remains of a man were found and investigators determined it to be a 62-year-old local resident. On February 27, 2022, Litvinenko reportedly ordered unidentified subordinates to shoot the man who was in the yard of his house in the village centre. Wounded in the stomach, the victim could not seek medical attention because the Russian military restricted the movement of civilians in the village and died at home two days later, on March 1. According to police investigators, on March 2, Litvinenko's subordinates fired at the victim's house from a tank, burning the body inside the building. Forensic experts could not establish the cause of the man's death due to charring of the body.
In April 2022, the Ukrainian police opened a murder case in Lypivka and in May informed Litvinenko of a suspicion in absentia for violating the laws and customs of war in combination with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the criminal code).
After the suspicion was issued, Ukrainian journalists from Schemes, a project by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, tracked Litvinenko on social media, found the phone number registered under his name and called it. He did not pick up the call. The journalist then managed to call the suspect's wife, named Anastasia. When asked whether her husband had returned to Russia or was still in Ukraine, she answered “He is in Ukraine.”
According to the woman, Ukrainian law enforcement officers did not know if it was Lytvynenko who ordered the shooting of the civilian in Lypivka.
“I don't know anything. I haven't contacted him for a long time. There is no connection. Goodbye,” Anastasia Litvinenko said before hanging up, according to the report.
During the pre-trial investigation, the suspect was reportedly in Russia and did not appear in court when summoned for questioning. According to the court register, investigators sent the suspicion to the official e-mail of the Russian ministry of defence and to the suspect's Messenger account. On March 11, 2024, the Makariv district court of the Kyiv region gave permission for a special pre-trial investigation in absentia: investigators tracked down witnesses who recognized Litvinenko from a photo.
On June 7, 2024, the publication of Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers, which is authorised to print subpoenas and suspicions, reported the completion of the special pre-trial investigation. Litvinenko has been summoned to familiarise himself with the case files, which are being transferred to the court.
If found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war in combination with intentional murder, the senior lieutenant faces from ten to 15 years or life imprisonment.
