The announcement was made on Friday, September 19, by the Office of the Prosecutor General.“Prosecutors of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office approved and sent to court an indictment against four military officials of the Russian Armed Forces for violating the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder, committed by a group of persons acting in concert,” the office said, citing Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 2 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code.On the morning of February 28, 2022, residential areas in Kharkiv were struck with cluster munitions fired from a Smerch MLRS. The attack killed eight civilians, including a 17-year-old teenager, and left another woman seriously injured.In the attack, several high-rise buildings, a school, and a kindergarten were damaged, with total losses estimated at approximately UAH 15.2 million.Investigators established that units from Russia’s Zapad (West) group, formed from elements of the Western Military District (WMD) of the Russian Armed Forces, were responsible for the shelling.According to the investigation, the deputy chief of staff of the WMD, who led the fire-damage group of the Zapad formation, ordered the use of Smerch MLRS against Kharkiv to intimidate civilians and suppress local resistance.The decision to shell Kharkiv was approved by the WMD leadership, including the district commander, a colonel general, and his first deputy, a lieutenant general. Despite being aware of the inevitable civilian casualties, the commander of the 79th Guards Rocket Artillery Brigade of the WMD issued the order to attack the city.“The indictment has been sent to the court for consideration under a special in absentia procedure,” the Office of the Prosecutor General added.On July 2, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that 18 individuals were suspected of participating in the torture of civilians in a detention facility in Kupiansk between March and September 2022.