In Russia, Colonel Sergei Karasyov, a participant in the war against Ukraine, has been appointed deputy mayor of Samara. Ukrainian law enforcement officers suspect him of committing war crimes in the Kyiv region in 2022. This is reported by UNN with reference to Russian "media" and the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
Details
Karasyov, 43, will be responsible for supporting participants in the war with Ukraine and their families. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, in 2022, during the occupation of Irpin in the Kyiv region, he shot a civilian and also hit a woman born in 1949 with a rifle butt. He knocked out her teeth and tore out part of her hair.
At that time, Karasyov was the commander of the 31st Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian Airborne Forces. This unit is based in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk: it participated in battles in Chechnya, Georgia, and Ukraine.
In 2023, the brigade was reorganized into the 104th Guards Airborne Assault Division. This is a re-established unit - it previously existed from the 1940s until 1998.
Karasyov was born in 1982 in Pskov and served as deputy commander of the 98th Airborne Division.
In Ukraine, he is accused under parts 1, 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code (War Crimes). The sanction of the article provides for imprisonment, up to life imprisonment.
Additionally
The city of Samara is the center of the Russian region of the same name. It is located in the European part of the aggressor country, more than 1000 km from Moscow. As of 2025, the city had a population of 1,154,223 people: the city's area is 541.4 km².
Recall
In late December 2025, former Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Yuriy Sadovenko died at the age of 56. He was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, and participated in the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.