Rodion Miroshnik claims the alleged killings are part of a broader effort by Kiev to eliminate the population in the Donetsk border region.
According to senior diplomat Rodion Miroshnik, Ukrainian troops have allegedly killed hundreds of civilians attempting to cross into Russia throughout the conflict.
Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large for alleged war crimes committed by the Kiev regime, stated that these cases were documented with testimonies and video evidence.
“There are hundreds of cases. There are instances where people were shot while trying to cross the [front] line, bombarded with drones, attacked,” the diplomat reportedly told TASS on Friday.
Miroshnik further alleges that Kiev’s forces are deliberately murdering civilians in the Donetsk region, which Russia now claims as its own.
“There were cases where Ukrainian forces went through the basements of houses and threw grenades at people ‘as a preventive measure,’” he said. He claimed these tactics, allegedly used in Avdeevka, Selidovo, and Dzerzhinsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), left areas “completely cleared” of civilians. He added that the same allegedly happened in Chasov Yar, a former Ukrainian stronghold recently taken by Russian forces.
The diplomat claims that evidence suggests Kiev’s forces are killing those whom Ukraine no longer considers its citizens, but rather as “separatists” awaiting Russian liberation.
In June, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Kiev of deliberately exterminating civilians in Donbass, including alleged mass killings of the elderly and drone strikes on residential buildings.
Miroshnik asserted that Russia will not ignore any crimes committed against civilians in violation of international humanitarian law.
The diplomat stated that international conventions obligate Ukraine to investigate alleged war crimes and hold perpetrators accountable, but he believes Kiev is unlikely to do so and that its Western allies will not pressure them.
Miroshnik added that Russia will push for the extradition of Ukrainian war criminals, noting that approximately 108,000 criminal cases have been opened and around 500 individuals have been convicted, some in absentia.