Two Russian servicemen arrested for killing seven people in Kherson region

Two Russian servicemen were detained in the area of the special military operation in the Kherson region. The men are suspected of killing seven people, including two Russian soldiers.

Law enforcement officers learned about the first crime on April 24 from a hospital paramedic in the village of Podo-Kalinovka. The police arrived at the scene and found the lifeless body of a woman with bullet wounds and traces of the use of an explosive device. Judging by the found 5.45 mm caliber cartridges, she was shot from a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Presumably, the criminals doused the woman's body with fuel and threw a grenade to cover their tracks.

In the neighbouring village of Abrikosovka, the police found the bodies of a man and a woman that were also burned and disfigured. The victims were identified as a Russian serviceman and the head of the village administration Lyubov Tymchak. The military turned to the head of the village as they wanted to settle in one of the houses in the village. Having received a negative answer, they attacked the woman. After the tragedy with the head of Abrikosovka, three days of mourning were declared in the Aleshkinsky municipal district.

The two Russians were arrested. They confessed to the crimes and spoke about two other killings that they committed. Some time later, law enforcement officers found the bodies of two men in a forest belt at the exit from the village of Abrikosovka. One of them was a military man. Similar bullet casings were found near the bodies.

A source at the security forces later said that the detained individuals killed seven people in total. It was also said that they burned two houses in a village and tried to set fire to a third.

One of the suspects was previously convicted of massacre. When he served his first prison sentence, he received another five years and five months for drug trafficking. Already at large, he was given a six-month suspended sentence after committing offences. The other detainee has no criminal record.

According to the Kommersant, the detainees are servicemen of the 144th Motorised Rifle Brigade. They were identified as Alexander Osipov and Alexander Kaygorodtsev. They were handed over to the military police.

According to most recent reports, the detainees were very drunk at the time of the crimes. The suspects burned down the house where alcohol was sold, killed a woman and took two of their acquaintances from there. Then they went to the village of Abrikosovka, quarreled with their friends on the way and shot them.