Five Russian military personnel have been charged in connection with the attack on a café in Groza
The Office of the Prosecutor General announced that it has charged five Russian military personnel whom investigators believe were involved in organizing a missile strike on a café in the village of Groza in the Kharkiv region. According to law enforcement officials, the entire chain of command leading to the decision to carry out the attack—which resulted in the deaths of 59 civilians—has been established.
Law enforcement officials have identified the Russian military personnel who, according to the investigation, ordered the missile strike on a café in the village of Groza in the Kharkiv region on October 5, 2023. At that time, 59 civilians were killed as a result of the attack with an “Iskander-M” ballistic missile. This was reported by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
“People had come to say goodbye to a defender of Ukraine. Russia deliberately killed 59 civilians. We have identified those who gave this order,” Kravchenko wrote.
According to him, the missile struck a café where memorial services were being held following the reburial of a Ukrainian soldier.
“Russia did not strike a military facility or a strategic target. It deliberately attacked civilians. Fifty-nine civilians were killed, including an 8-year-old child. For a small village, this was a blow that claimed the lives of nearly one in six residents,” the prosecutor general noted.
Kravchenko reported that investigators had previously identified two local residents who had provided the Russian side with the coordinates of the civilian facility and fled to Russia. They have already been notified of the charges against them.
“But our task was to identify not only the perpetrators on the ground, but also the entire chain of command behind the criminal decision,” he emphasized.
According to the Prosecutor General, an examination of the scene of the tragedy, 3D scanning, analysis of the missile debris, determination of the flight path, and more than 180 forensic examinations made it possible to fully reconstruct the mechanism of the war crime.
The investigation identified five Russian military personnel who, according to law enforcement, participated in the planning and execution of the strike. Under the procedural guidance of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, all of them were notified of their status as suspects in violating the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder committed by a group of individuals acting in concert.
“For the Russian army, such crimes are part of war. For us, these are specific criminal cases, specific names, and specific accountability. Not a single missile strike against civilians will go unpunished without the perpetrators and commanders being identified. Step by step, we are documenting every such crime so that the guilty are held accountable not only before history but also before a court. Justice takes time. But it will surely come,” Kravchenko emphasized.
As a reminder, the Kharkiv region plans to implement a mandatory evacuation of children from a number of settlements due to the deteriorating security situation. Local residents are advised not to delay and to leave immediately.
The Chernihiv Regional Defense Council, at the request of the military command, has decided to implement a mandatory evacuation of the population from twelve border villages starting July 1. This was reported by Vyacheslav Chaus, head of the Chernihiv Regional Military Administration.
