A former Ukrainian police officer was charged with treason in absentia on Feb. 12 for his alleged role in helping direct a Russian missile strike on the Kharkiv Oblast village of Hroza in October 2023 that killed 59 civilians.
The Russian strike occurred during a memorial service in Hroza, which is located around 90 kilometers east of the city of Kharkiv. More than half of the village's population was killed in what was the deadliest attack against Ukrainian civilians in 2023.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) identified two brothers in October 2023, both locals from Kharkiv Oblast, who allegedly helped direct the strike on Hroza.
The SBU, along with the Kharkiv Oblast prosecutor's office, shared text exchanges that implicated the brothers in the attack.
The prosecutor's office and other law enforcement agencies announced on Feb. 12 that one of the collaborators was charged in absentia with treason. While the suspect was not named, Ukrainska Pravda and other media outlets wrote that it was Dmytro Mamon, one of the two brothers identified by the SBU in October.
According to the SBU, Dmytro and his brother Volodymyr collaborated with occupying Russian forces and later fled to Russia after Ukraine liberated the region in late 2022.
The SBU wrote in October that the brothers cultivated a network of local informants and collaborators from Russia and used these contacts to identify Ukrainian troop movements or gatherings, which they reported back to their Russian handlers.
The brothers often used unwitting informants, asking seemingly innocent questions in order to mask their true intention, the SBU said.
Alexander Khrebet
(Updated: )
