This was reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.
"As far as we know, this will be the first case in the world of a criminal prosecution for the crime of ecocide committed during the war. According to available information, the suspected commander was also involved in crimes in Syria. He was not held accountable then, and now he is fighting against Ukraine," said Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin.
From the beginning of March to mid-September 2022, the Russians struck the institute 74 times. They used air bombs, high-explosive fragmentation shells from cannon artillery, fragmentation, and cluster shells from Grad, Uragan, Smerch, and Pion multiple launch rocket systems.
"According to the conclusion of a comprehensive forensic engineering, environmental and economic examination, the environment was damaged to the tune of almost UAH 15 billion. The cost and scope of restoration of the Institute's buildings and structures that were destroyed and damaged exceeds UAH 30 million. And these are not the final figures. Russian shelling destroyed exclusive multimillion-dollar equipment, which has no analogues in the world," the prosecutor's office said.
Investigators identified that it was the head of the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Alexander Zhuravlev and four of his subordinates:
The main suspect is Colonel General, at the time the current commander of the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, who directly supervised the destruction of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology.
Photo: Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office
The next suspects in the military hierarchy are two generals: the commander of the 6th Combined Arms Army and the commander of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army.
On March 12, the Neutron Source nuclear facility at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology came under fire from Russian troops. On March 28, the Neutron Source nuclear facility at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology came under fire from Russian troops. Two other war criminals who have been notified of suspicion are Russian colonels: the commander of the 45th High-Power Artillery Brigade and the commander of the 79th Guards Jet Artillery Brigade of Novozybkov.
The three generals were notified of suspicion of intentional actions committed to change the boundaries of the territory and state border of Ukraine in violation of the procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine, which led to grave consequences, of waging aggressive war, of violating the laws and customs of war and of committing actions that could cause an environmental disaster - ecocide.
The two colonels are charged with Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Part 2 of Article 28, Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The issue of putting all suspects on the wanted list is currently being decided.