Lithuania names seven suspects in Ukraine war crimes investigation

Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office says seven people have been named suspects in an investigation into possible war crimes and other offences in Ukraine, including incidents involving drones in Lithuania, LRT reported.

The pre-trial investigation began in Lithuania in March 2022. Prosecutors have contacted more than 6,700 people who came to Lithuania from Ukraine, questioned more than 490 as witnesses and recognised more than 135 as victims, said Elena Martinonienė, head of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s communications department.

One part of the investigation concerns the killing of Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius in Mariupol in March 2022. Three people have been named suspects and are being sought. Investigators identified soldiers from the 1st Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 1st Army Corps of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic as being involved in his unlawful detention, deprivation of liberty and killing, Martinonienė said.

Another part concerns a detention centre operating in 2022 on the grounds of the military airfield in Melitopol, where Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war, including a Lithuanian citizen, were allegedly tortured. Three soldiers from the Russian Federation’s Caspian Flotilla 177th Separate Military Police Detachment have been named suspects. One was captured and transferred to Lithuania by Ukraine on October 29, 2025, after the required legal procedures. He is currently in custody, the prosecutor’s office said.

The investigation also covers a shelling in Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, on June 24, 2024. Five Lithuanians were injured, one of whom has German citizenship. More than 50 people were injured and five were killed in two ballistic missile strikes, Martinonienė said.

Prosecutors are also documenting events involving military drones that entered Lithuanian territory, but have not specified which incidents or how many are under investigation. The office previously confirmed it was assessing suspected drone incidents recorded in Lithuania in March, May, September and October.

On the night of March 23, a suspected Ukrainian drone entered Lithuania and crashed in Varėna district near Lake Lavys. It is believed to have gone off course after an operation against Russia. On May 17, a crashed drone containing explosives was found in Utena district; officials neutralised the explosives at the scene, and the aircraft was suspected to be a Ukrainian military drone.

On September 15, a drone reportedly entered Lithuania from Belarus and was shot down in Kaišiadorys district by fighter jets conducting a NATO air-policing mission. It was later confirmed to have carried an explosive. On October 18, a drone that may have entered Lithuania from Poland crashed in Pasvalys district. Debris from the aircraft reportedly damaged a car travelling on a road.