Russian Soldiers Involved in Massacre of Ukrainian Family of 9, Including 2 Minors

In a horrifying incident in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha, a family of nine, including children, was discovered shot to death in their home, with Russian soldiers alleged to be responsible for the gruesome killings. Ukrainian officials have claimed that the Kapkanets family was brutally killed on October 27 after they refused to surrender their house to the occupying soldiers.

Russian investigators have reportedly detained two male suspects in connection with the case, identifying them as Russian soldiers from the Far East. Photographs of the harrowing crime scene have circulated on social media, revealing blood-splattered and bullet-riddled bodies, with some showing the slain family locked in embraces.

Both Ukraine and Russia have initiated their own investigations into this merciless slaying, which has sent shockwaves through the region. Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets expressed his belief that “Russians’ bloodied hands were involved” in the Volnovakha killings. According to Lubinets, preliminary information suggests that “the occupiers have killed the whole of the Kapkanets family, who were celebrating a birthday and who had refused to hand their own house over to occupiers from Chechnya.”

Based on early information, the prosecutors’ office in Ukraine-controlled Donetsk alleged that attackers clad in Russian army uniforms carried out the massacre after the family resisted demands to vacate their home. Shockingly, two children, aged around five and nine, were among the victims.

In a contrasting account, Russia’s official Investigations Committee stated that the preliminary motive for the crime was a domestic conflict. They disclosed that the two men arrested in connection with the crime were Russian soldiers from the country’s Far East who had signed contracts with the Russian military.

Reports from Russian news channels and neighbors of the slain family suggest that the “killers were in the military.” One neighbor, speaking to Astra, conveyed the collective fear among residents, saying, “We’re all scared.” Additionally, the Russian Telegram channel Baza reported that the Kapkanets family had “a conflict with unidentified men wearing military fatigues with no insignia.”

This gruesome incident has ignited outrage and calls for justice from both Ukraine and the international community, and it serves as a grim reminder of the ongoing tensions in the region.

Image credits: Freepik