MOSCOW

Russia on Wednesday put two former Ukrainian defense ministers and a top military official on the wanted list.

Valeriy Heletey, who served as the defense minister from July to October 2014, Stepan Poltorak, who occupied the same position from October 2014 to August 2019, and Viktor Muzhenko, who headed Ukraine's General Staff from July 2014 to May 2019, appeared on the list of people sought by the Russian Interior Ministry with a note "wanted on criminal charges," according to a statement on the ministry’s official website.

In April 2022, the Russian Investigative Committee charged in absentia over 20 Ukrainian military chiefs with the genocide of the Russian-speaking population in Donbas.

The investigators accused the Ukrainian military of using multiple launch rocket systems Grad and Hurricane, aviation unguided missiles with a cluster warhead, tactical missiles Tochka-U and other types of heavy weapons against civilians for eight years.

In April this year, the Russian Investigative Committee charged in absentia Poltorak with attacks on Donbas settlements, killing 530 and injuring 970 people, and damaging more than 2,000 civilian objects.