Russian citizen arrested on suspicion of stabbing Ukraine soldiers to death in Germany

According to an initial investigation the three men knew each other

Residents mourn the death of two Ukrainian soldiers in the small southern town of Murnau, Germany (REUTERS)

German prosecutors have said that they had launched an investigation into a Russian citizen arrested on suspicion of stabbing two Ukrainian soldiers to death in southern Germany over the weekend.

The soldiers - who had been convalescing in southern Germany - were found with serious stab wounds outside a shopping centre in the Bavarian town of Murnau am See on Sunday, according to police. One of them, aged 36, died at the scene, while the other, 23, succumbed to his wounds in hospital.

A 57-year-old Russian citizen was arrested in his home shortly after the act on suspicion of murder, police said.

According to an initial investigation, the three men knew each other, but further details need to be verified, local police spokesperson Stefan Sonntag told dpa. There were also indications that all three men had consumed alcohol.

The prosecutor general’s office in Munich said it had since taken over the case and was not able to rule out a political motivation on the part of the alleged perpetrator.

Ukrainian consuls are clarifying information about the units in which the victims served and establishing contact with their families, the Ukrainian government said in a statement.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba instructed the consulate general in Munich to keep an eye on the case and remain in contact with German law enforcement, it said.

“We have clear evidence that the suspect was under the influence of alcohol,” Sonntag was quoted as saying. A spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday expressed concern about the killings.

“This is a worrying incident, no question about it. The circumstances must now be investigated more closely,” Steffen Hebestreit told reporters in Berlin.

“We can only speculate about the motives at the moment,” he added.

“But it is clear that we cannot tolerate such a thing on German soil anyway and that the Ukrainians, Ukrainians who have fled to us from the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, must now be safe.”

More than 1 million Ukrainian refugees have come to Germany since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Germany is also home to a significant Russian immigrant community and 2.5 million Russians of German ancestry who mostly moved to the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.