MOSCOW, October 2 (RAPSI) – Russian Investigative Committee has launched criminal proceedings against Ukrainian Defense Minister Vitaliy Heletey, Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko and a number of Army generals for genocide of the Russian-speaking population in southeastern Ukraine, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told journalists on Thursday.

Oleh Mikas, commander of the 25th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is also one of the suspects in the case, Markin said.

All the suspects are accused of masterminding murders, using prohibited methods and means of warfare, and genocide.

Investigators believe that on September 3-5, Muzhenko, Mikas and the command of the 93rd Brigade, acting in violation of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and other international legal acts that denounce genocide, issued orders aimed at exterminating Russian-speaking residents in the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics.

According to the Investigative Committee, the Ukrainian military used Grad and Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems, unguided air-to-surface cluster rockets, Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile systems and other heavy offensive weapons against Donetsk, Luhansk, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and other cities.

Alexander Drymanov, the acting head of the Investigative Committee department for crimes related to the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare said Thursday the suspects would be charged and put on an international wanted list, according to ITAR-TASS.

Over 3,000 people have been killed and more than 5,000 wounded in the conflict in Ukraine.