Pushilin said there was a large amount of evidence of war crimes by the AFU

The head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), Denys Pushylin, has reported sufficient evidence of war crimes committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) against civilians, including the townspeople of Selidovo. He said in an interview with RIA Novosti on December 20.

"As I have already said, there is a lot of evidence of war crimes by the Ukrainian armed forces against civilians. And this applies including Selidovo," he said.

Earlier, on December 17, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes of the Kiev regime, told Izvestia that Russia was collecting new data on Kiev's war crimes against civilians in the town of Selidovo. According to him, before the liberation of the settlement, Ukrainian militants harassed local residents. He specified that the information would be passed to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

The Russian military liberated Selidovo at the end of October. The town is located about 40 kilometers northwest of Donetsk and had an important strategic importance for Ukrainian militants. The AFU equipped one of the largest fortifications here. Later, footage was published showing the replacement of the Ukrainian flag with the Russian tricolor by Russian Armed Forces soldiers on the roof of one of the multi-story buildings.

After his release, Miroshnik said that Kiev wanted to repeat in Selidovo the provocation in Bucha, and promised that the Russian Foreign Ministry would provide international organizations with data on the shooting of civilians in the city.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the aggravated situation in the region.