Russia Accuses More Than 40 Ukrainian Officials of Genocide, Zelenskyy Not on the List
Russia accuses dozens of current and former Ukrainian political and military leaders of committing genocide against Russians or Russian-speaking residents in the Donbas region since 2014. The list of 41 defendants published by the Russian General Prosecutor's Office does not include Vladimir Zelenskyy, but includes his predecessor Petro Poroshenko*, Defense Minister Denys Shymkal, former Chief of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhnyi, current Chief of the Armed Forces Alexander Syrskyi, Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Yermak, and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and head of Ukraine's peace negotiation delegation Rustem Umerov.
In a statement, the Russian General Prosecutor's Office announced "the approval of criminal charges against the top political and military leaders of Ukraine." Forty-one current and former Ukrainian officials have been charged in absentia with "genocide" under Article 357 of the Criminal Code of Russia, and arrest warrants have been issued for all of them.
According to the indictment, since April 2014, after the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and a pro-Western government came to power, the defendants "ordered their Ukrainian armed forces and other armed groups to commit atrocities against civilians using guns, armored vehicles, fighter jets, missiles, and artillery, with the intent to commit genocide against the people of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LNR)."
According to the Russian General Prosecutor's Office, nearly 5,000 civilians were killed and 13,500 were injured, including 1,275 minors. The indictment also states that these events caused more than 2.3 million citizens to be forced to leave their homes, and the population of the two regions decreased from 6.5 million to 4.5 million.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1851011854562307/
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