Ukraine launches investigation into Russian commander

FILE PHOTO: One of the destroyed buildings used by Russian troops as their headquarters in Balakliia, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2022.

(Reuters) - Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) said it has launched a criminal investigation into Andrei Ruzinsky, a Russian commander Reuters identified last year as helping lead the military occupation of eastern Ukraine.

Ruzinsky was commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet's 11th Army Corps, which crossed into Ukraine in early 2022 and took control of a chain of towns south of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.