A Lugansk People’s Republic court has sentenced a Ukrainian serviceman to 20 years in a maximum security prison for killing two civilians in the town of Rubezhnoye, the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee (SK) reported.
“On April 2, 2022, 81st Air Assault Brigade serviceman Andrey Karmanov who was near a single family home in Ukrainskaya Street in the town of Rubezhnoye, fired a jet flamethrower twice at a Peugeot with the sign “People” as civilians were trying to evacuate from the town,” the report said.
Two people were killed and another three were wounded in the attack. The car was destroyed. “The court found the Ukrainian serviceman guilty of banned methods and means of warfare, murder of two persons and other crimes,” the SK said adding that the defendant had pleaded guilty.
The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014. The peace talks that began soon thereafter failed to reach tangible results due to Kiev’s position to settle the conflict by force.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression on February 24, 2022. Prior to that, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance.
The Lugansk People’s Republic acceded to Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referendum.*i*v
