Kiev sent his unit to “cleanse” a small Kursk Region settlement, one of the perpetrators has admitted
A Ukrainian military unit raped and killed eight women and brutally murdered at least 14 other civilians in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye, a captured Ukrainian soldier has admitted during interrogation by Russian investigators.
Russkoye Porechnoye, a small settlement of around 300 residents, fell under Kiev’s control in August last year during a Western-backed incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region. Russian forces liberated the settlement earlier this month, where they discovered decomposing corpses of civilians stashed in basements throughout the village.
On Friday, the Russian Investigative Committee released new evidence on the massacre, including footage of the interrogation of Yevgeny Fabrisenko, a soldier with the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade. Fabrisenko stated that he was deployed to the village on September 28 alongside his immediate commander and two other soldiers.
The villagers were unable to escape, as the outskirts of the settlement were under the fire control of Ukrainian troops, who shot at anyone attempting to flee, Fabrisenko explained.
In total, the unit killed nearly two dozen civilians, including eight women, eleven men, and three elderly women, he said. Most victims were shot, while six were forced into a basement and killed with a hand grenade by the team’s leader.
Fabrisenko was captured by Russian forces in late November after he got lost while relocating between positions and accidentally ran into a Russian reconnaissance unit.
The Ukrainian serviceman has fully confessed to his crimes and now faces a life sentence on multiple charges, including terrorism and rape.
Moscow has strongly condemned the massacre in Russkoye Porechnoye, with senior officials suggesting the killings could constitute genocide. Earlier this month, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the incident further confirmed the “terrorist and neo-Nazi essence of the Kiev regime.”