Two Russian soldiers charged for torturing SBU officer to death in Bucha

That’s according to the SBU press office, Ukrinform reports.

The suspects were identified as commander of the 175th separate reconnaissance battalion, 76th Pskov airborne assault division Lieutenant Colonel Denis Suvorov and his deputy, Captain Aslan Kaskulov.

It was established that both took part in the capture of territories in Kyiv region where they were engaged in purge missions. On the order of both culprits, their subordinates would break into homes of local residents and abduct people.

During one of those "raids" in Bucha on March 6, 2022, the invaders illegally detained SBU officer Oleksiy Telizhenko, bringing him to a command post in a forest strip near the village of Vorzel. There, Suvorov and Kaskulov ordered that their subordinates tie the officer to a tree and then started torturing him.

According to the investigation, Suvorov personally punched and kicked the victim and stuck a wooden peg into the wound on the officer’s head.

The brutal torture lasted several hours before the Russians threw Telizhenko into a pit where he succumbed to his wounds and winter cold overnight.

After the liberation of Kyiv region, the officer’s body was found at the crime scene along with the bodies of eight civilians also killed by the Russians.

The SBU and National Police have collected sufficient evidence on Suvorov and Kaskulov before pressing charges of conspiring to violate the laws and customs of war.

Comprehensive efforts are underway to locate, detain, and bring both perpetrators to justice.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine pressed charges in absentia against the commander of the Russian Guard’s Ural District, Lieutenant General Spiridonov, who is complicit in mass repressions against civilians in the occupied part of Kherson region.