Russian general who led assault on Azovstal to be tried

According to Ukrinform, the Prosecutor General's Office said this in a report on Telegram.

Prosecutors from the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office sent an indictment to the court as part of a special pre-trial investigation against the commander of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces.

"From February 24 to May 2022, pursuant to orders of the military and political leadership of the aggressor state, he personally supervised subordinate units during the invasion of the territory of the Donetsk region," the statement reads.

The commander of the Russian army is accused of committing intentional actions that violated the order established by the Constitution of Ukraine to change the boundaries of the territory or state border of Ukraine, which led to the death of people and other grave consequences, as well as waging a war of aggression (Part 3 of Article 110, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The pre-trial investigation revealed that, while in command posts of the invaders' army in Mariupol, Manhush, Nikolske, Staryi Krym, Kalchyk, Shevchenko, Zhovtneve, and Pryazovske villages of Mariupol district, the lieutenant general was in charge of military planning, coordination, and management of Russian military formations.

He also ordered the shelling of civilians in Donetsk region and the seizure of the territory of the region.

The accused participated in a meeting with the heads of the pseudo-republic "dpr" and the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation and developed a plan for the complete capture of the besieged Mariupol and the storming of the Azovstal metallurgical plant where Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel and civilians were trapped in partially destroyed bomb shelters.

He also coordinated the actions of subordinate formations to intensify the assault on the enterprise and kill the leadership of Ukrainian military units.

As reported by Ukrinform, the commander of a tank battalion of the Russian armed forces was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the shooting of a multi-story residential building in Chernihiv.