Prosecutor's Office: Russian forces murder 9 family members in occupied Volnovakha.

Editor's note: This article contains graphic content. Russian forces in occupied Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast, entered a home and murdered nine civilians, including three women and two children, aged five and nine, the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's office alleged on Oct.

30. According to the preliminary investigation, Russian soldiers approached the home several days before and demanded that the residents vacate so that they could reside there.

The residents refused even though the Russian soldiers threatened them, and the soldiers left. They returned on Oct.

27, the Prosecutor's Office said, and shot all nine members of the family while they slept.

Murdered Ukrainian civilians in occupied Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast. (Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office/Facebook)

The investigation is still ongoing, the Prosecutor's Office said. If convicted, those responsible for the murders could face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

Volnovakha, located about 65 kilometers from occupied Mariupol and the Black Sea coast, has been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the beginning of the full-scale invasion. It saw heavy fighting in March 2022, causing an unknown number of civilian casualties and damaging a majority of the buildings in the city.

The writing is on the wall: Ukrainian archivists collect Russian graffiti as evidence of war crimes "It is not considered a war crime if you had fun," reads graffiti left by Russian soldiers in the backroom of a bar in the village of Velyka Komyshuvakha, located in the Izium district of Kharkiv Oblast.

Before being liberated, the area was occupied by Russian forces for six months

Nate Ostiller

News Editor

Nate Ostiller is a News Editor. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master's degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine.

Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.