A Russian military court has sentenced two soldiers to life in prison for murdering a family of nine, including two children, in occupied eastern Ukraine, marking a rare instance of Russia acknowledging crimes committed by its forces during the war, the business newspaper Kommersant reported Friday.
Anton Sopov, 21, and Stanislav Rau, 28, were convicted by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don for breaking into and killing the Kapkanets family in their home in Volnovakha, a city in the partially occupied Donetsk region. The soldiers were arrested October 30, 2023, two days after the bodies were discovered.
The case proceeded largely in secrecy, with prosecutors citing military confidentiality. While TASS state news agency initially reported in July that the soldiers had pleaded guilty but denied acting “out of hatred based on nationality,” Kommersant now reports they have pleaded not guilty and plan to appeal.
Russian media offered conflicting accounts of the motive, with TASS describing the murders as stemming from a “domestic dispute” and Kommersant suggesting an argument over vodka. However, Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets claimed the soldiers killed the family after they refused to abandon their home during a birthday celebration.
The convictions represent an unusual acknowledgment of military misconduct by Russian authorities, who have consistently denied targeting civilians and dismissed reports of atrocities as fabrications, despite numerous accusations of civilian killings in occupied territories.
Volnovakha, seized by Russian forces in the early days of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, was largely destroyed by artillery bombardments during the conflict.
