The Russian general who ordered the storming of “Azovstal” was declared the suspicion

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has identified the Russian lieutenant general who ordered Russian troops to capture the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and storm one of the cityʼs largest industrial enterprises, “Azovstal”.

This was reported by the SSU and the Office of the Prosecutor General.

The war criminal is the commander of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District, Lieutenant General Andriy Mordvichev.

According to the investigation, since February 2022, he led the seizure of the territories of the Donetsk region and personally participated in battles against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He commanded the so-called “peopleʼs militia” of the “DPR”, a number of motorized rifle brigades “DPR”, tank battalion and “Somalia” battalion, reconnaissance battalion "Sparta" and units of the PMC “Wagner”.

The general planned operations and coordinated the troops. It was he who ordered the destruction of civilian and critical infrastructure, as well as the killing of civilians.

During the battles for Mariupol, he held a meeting with the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, approving a plan for the final capture of the city, blockade and subsequent storming of “Azovstal” with the merciless killing of Ukrainians who remained inside. Under his direct leadership, the occupying forces committed atrocities against the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the civilian population.

The prosecutorʼs office declared Mordvichev in absentia of the suspicion under the articles of encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine (Part 3 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code), waging an aggressive war (Part 2 of Article 437) and the commission of a criminal offense by a group of persons with a prior conspiracy (Part 2 of Article 28 CC).