Two Russian soldiers shot and killed seven Ukrainian civilians in Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine during the night of Dec. 20–21, an initiative operated by Ukrainian intelligence reported on Monday.
The killings occurred after armed Russian troops broke into a basement sheltering civilians, falsely reported killing a Ukrainian military unit and later set the building on fire, according to the Ukrainian intelligence-backed initiative I Want to Live.
A surviving witness said the soldiers first encountered a father and son, who came out to meet them when they arrived at the home. The Russians demanded alcohol, and after the men said they had none, the soldiers reportedly shot them.
The soldiers then entered the basement and killed a family consisting of a grandmother, father, mother and son, as well as another man who was hiding there, I Want to Live reported. One man survived by pretending to be dead.
After the shooting, the soldiers told a Russian commander they had destroyed a sabotage and reconnaissance group of the armed forces of Ukraine, I Want to Live reported.
On Dec. 23, the two Russian soldiers were detained by Ukraine’s 159th Military Commandant’s Office, Ukrainian news agency RBC reported.