In the occupied part of the Kherson region in the south-east of Ukraine, they detained two Russian soldiers who confessed to murdering three people in two villages, including the mayor of the village of Abrykosivka, the Russian newspaper Kommersant wrote on its website today. One of the presumed perpetrators is a recidivist from Siberia, who was previously convicted of murder in Russia. He is now facing a life sentence, the newspaper added.
A medic from the village of Podo-Kalynivka informed the police about the crimes. When the police arrived at the scene, they found the body of a woman in a house, who – judging by the cartridges – had been shot with an automatic Kalashnikov rifle. In an attempt to disguise the crime, the perpetrators doused the body with flammable liquid and then threw a grenade into the house, the explosion of which caused a fire. Nevertheless, the dead woman was recognized.
The police followed the trail and arrested the soldiers Alexander Osipov and Alexander Kajgorodtsev, who confessed to the murder. They also confessed to murdering their army colleague and another woman in a neighboring village. They also burned and blew up the corpses.
One of the victims turned out to be the mayor of Abrykosivka. Authorities had previously claimed that the mayor was the victim of Ukrainian shelling, the newspaper noted, adding that soldiers from Russia’s 144th Motorized Rifle Brigade were likely to have killed while drunk.
Kaygorodtsev, from Novosibirsk, had previously been tried for murder and received another sentence in prison for drug trafficking. He was released in 2020. If he is now convicted of triple murder in court, he faces life imprisonment, Kommersant wrote.
