Ukraine presses charges in absentia against Russian general in lead of Kherson capture
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) gathered sufficient evidence to press charges against Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, Commander of Rusia’s 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District, who commanded the invasion of Ukraine’s Kherson region.
That’s according to the agency press service, Ukrinform reports.
On February 24, 2022, Rezantsev personally ordered his troops to capture Kherson region, the investigation found.
Under his command, Russian invasion troops invaded the region, moving in from temporarily occupied Crimea.
It was also Rezantsev who ordered that his subordinates seize the strategic airfield in Chornobaivka “at any cost”.
The invaders also executed the suspect’s orders to carry out massive air raids targeting the region’s civil infrastructure.
During the capture of the area on the right bank of the Dnipro, Rezantsev supervised mass repressions against members of local resistance. On his orders, people were abducted at roadblocks and plainly from streets.
His operations were part of Moscow’s effort to spread Russian presence in southern Ukraine.
Based on the evidence gathered, SBU investigators pressed charges in absentia against General Rezantsev for conspiracy in waging a war of aggression.
“Comprehensive measures are underway to bring the perpetrator to justice,” the statement concludes.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, detectives forwarded to court in Ukraine the cases of the commander of the Dnepr grouping of troops, commander of the 22nd Army Corps of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and commander of the 8th Coastal Defense Artillery Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet’s 22nd Army Corps, all of who issued orders to shell the city of Kherson.