| Volnovakha family murders | |
| Partof: | War crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine |
| Location: | Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine |
| Target: | Civilians |
| Date: | 27 October 2023 |
| Motive: | Occupying civilian household |
| Fatalities: | 9 family members of the Kapkanets family, including two children |
| Perps: | Anton Sopov[1] Stanislav Rau |
| Weapon: | VSS Vintorez |
On 27 October 2023, two soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces killed a family of nine civilians after breaking into their house in Volnovakha, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nine bodies have been found at the location, including two children aged 5 and 9 years old.[2] [3] Volnovakha has been within Russian-occupied territories since Russia's capture of the city in March 2022.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office, Russian soldiers demanded from a family to leave their home because they intended to accommodate a Russian military unit there, but the family refused. A few days later, Russian soldiers returned and shot all the family members in the house. Russian prosecutors announced they have started an investigation of the Russian soldiers suspected in the murders.[4] Photos from the crime scenes included family members shot dead in their beds, some embracing each other, and blood on the walls. Mikhail Savva of the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties pointed out that the Volnovakha murders are a rare case of Moscow admitting murders of civilians by their own forces, something they have been almost always denying despite numerous evidence, but that it was likely just Kremlin "feigning concern about the fate of civilians, while ignoring the many other crimes".[5]