Updated 7:51 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Investigative Committee charged a Dnipro volunteer battalion soldier with killings of civilians in southeastern Ukraine, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Wednesday.
"A Dniepr [Russian for Dnipro] battalion soldier was charged with killings of civilians in southeastern Ukraine," the spokesman said in a statement.
The suspect, surnamed Litvinov, has been arrested and will soon be taken to Moscow for a psychiatric examination, the statement reads.
On Monday, Markin announced that the investigative committee has launched a case of genocide of the Russian-speaking people of eastern Ukraine's self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
According to Markin, no less than 2,500 people died as a result of efforts on the part of Ukrainian authorities to conduct a "full annihilation" of Russian-speaking citizens in the country's southeastern regions.
Ukrainian volunteer battalions, formed in April, when Kiev launched a military operation in eastern Ukraine, and that have since been integrated into Ukraine's National Guard, continue their operations in the region, despite the ceasefire agreed by the Contact Group on September 5 in Minsk.
Amnesty International has said that the Ukrainian government is responsible for the war crimes and human rights violations committed by Ukrainian volunteer battalions.
