Russia opens criminal case against top Ukrainian military officials

The Russian Investigative Committee said Wednesday that it has opened a criminal case against senior Ukrainian military officials, accusing them of using forbidden means and methods of war against civilians.

"The National Guard of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have periodically carried out precision shelling of civilian infrastructure," the committee said in a statement.

It said that highly destructive heavy weapons were used in such operations in eastern Ukraine since Feb. 15 when a cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and insurgents was announced.

The committee said it had collected sufficient proof that those actions against civilians were taken on the orders of Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, and some other senior officials.

The committee said the shelling partially or completely destroyed more than 183 civilian infrastructure objects, killed seven civilians and injured 74 others, including seven minors.

Kiev and insurgents in the eastern Donbass region have been regularly accusing each other of violating the Minsk agreement agreed by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, which was aimed at facilitating a political solution to the protracted crisis in eastern Ukraine. Endi