Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and Prosecutor General’s Office on Feb. 18 charged Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov, a Russian deputy defense minister, with war crimes and violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Kartapolov was one of the top battlefield leaders in charge of Russian regular forces and collaborating militants fighting against Ukraine in the Donbas in 2014.
The charges came on the sixth anniversary of the major battle of Debaltseve, which in mid-February 2015 resulted in the tragic withdrawal of a large Ukrainian military group that was partly surrounded by overwhelming Kremlin-backed forces.
The battle left 179 Ukrainian warfighters and over 3,000 Russian militant troops dead, according to official Ukrainian figures.
According to the Ukrainian investigation, Kartapolov, the deputy chief of general staff of Russia’s Armed Forces, was in direct command of the Debaltseve operation in January–February 2015. The SBU stated it notified Kartapolov about the charges.
According to Ukrainian prosecutors, Kartapolov also took part in the intervention of Russian regular forces in Ukraine starting in August 2014, particularly during the ill-fated battle of Ilovaisk in August 2014, which resulted in the catastrophic defeat of Ukrainian forces.
“The criminal law of Ukraine envisages life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for such crimes,” the SBU stated.
Colonel Andrey Kartapolov, a Russian deputy defense minister who was one of the top battlefield leaders in charge of Russian regular forces and collaborating militants fighting against Ukraine in the Donbas in 2014. Ukraine’s Security Service has changed him with war crimes. (Alexey Ereshko/Ministry of Defense of Russia)
Apart from the Debaltseve battle, the high-ranking Russian military leader was also involved in the downing of the Malaysian Airlines MH-17 flight in the Donbas in 2014. According to the international investigation, Kartapolov directly commissioned the deployment of the Buk-M1 air defense missile system that downed the passenger jet, killing all 298 passengers on board.
Since February 2015, General Kartapolov has been subject to European Union travel restrictions and financial sanctions over his involvement in the war in Ukraine.
It is also known that, following the battle of Debaltseve, Kartapolov was deployed to Syria in 2015 as the top commanding officer with the Russian military contingent in the Middle Eastern country embattled by civil war.
