A Russian court has sentenced two soldiers to life imprisonment for the murder of a family of nine in occupied Ukraine, marking a rare instance of Russian troops being held accountable for alleged war crimes.
According to prosecutors, Anton Sopov, 21, and Stanislav Rau, 28, killed the entire Kapkanets family in their home in the Donetsk region last year.
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Among the victims were two children, aged five and nine. Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that the family was celebrating a birthday at the time of the killings.
The trial was conducted behind closed doors due to military secrecy, and it remains unclear if the soldiers pleaded guilty.
Russian media reported that Sopov and Rau were convicted for the murder of 53-year-old Eduard Kapkanets, his wife Tatiana, their adult sons and their wives, a nine-year-old granddaughter, a four-year-old grandson, and another relative.
Ukrainian officials initially suggested that the family was targeted for refusing to surrender their home to Russian forces.
State news agency Tass indicated that the soldiers were convicted of murder “motivated by political, ideological, racial, national, or religious hatred.”
The Ukrainian city of Volnovakha, where the crime occurred, was taken by Russian forces shortly after the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, leaving much of the area in ruins.
Despite mounting evidence, Russia denies any involvement in war crimes in Ukraine. This includes incidents such as the bombing of a theatre in Mariupol sheltering civilians and the mass killings in Bucha.
Russian forces are also accused of operating torture chambers across occupied regions, with widespread reports of torture, sexual violence, and killings.
The UN has condemned Russian forces for these alleged crimes, and the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of President Vladimir Putin.
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