Ukrainian authorities: Russian soldiers murdered an eight-member Romani family, the youngest child was just one year old
In the town of Makiivka in the Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk Oblast an eight-member Romani family has been found murdered including four minors. The youngest child was one year old, the others were seven and nine years old.
According to Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol, the murder was committed by Russian soldiers, specifically, members of the Wagner Group. The occupation authorities allege that the crime was committed by ordinary burglars who have already been apprehended.
News server Ukrainska Pravda has been reporting on the story. According to occupation authorities, a Škoda brand vehicle and other valuables have been stolen from the yard of the home where the family was murdered.
“Security forces have arrested three suspects for the murder of an eight-member family in Makiivka,” the “Russian” Interior Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic announced. The detainees have allegedly confessed, according to the occupation authorities, and allegedly said they had committed the crime for personal gain in order to acquire the car and other valuables.
According to Andriushchenko, however, there are a number of irregularities in the case, and in addition, the occupation authorities concealed the fact that the murdered family was Romani and that this could also have been a racially-motivated crime. All of the victims were shot at close range.
Locals in Makiiva, according to Andriushchenko, said the Russian Army committed the mass murder. He specifically mentioned the Wagner Group, a private military group under the direction of the Kremlin that has recruited many criminals and neo-Nazis into its ranks.
Ukrainska Pravda quotes Andriushchenko as saying he and his team have spent almost the entire night following publically-available sources of information and working with insiders – he is able to state that the murder was committed by “several monsters in military uniform”, but alleges the occupiers want to cover the crime up, just as they did with crimes committed in Mariupol previously, for example. He also suggested to Ukrainska Pravda that such crimes may continue because Russia has recruited what he called “non-humans and criminals, neo-Nazis and other human trash” to fight at the line of contact.
