Officers of the Main Investigative Department of the General Command of the Russian Armed Forces Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov will each receive a notice of suspicion of preparing and stirring an armed conflict (war) in Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has reported.

"[They have been sent notices of suspicion] as a result of committing the criminal plan of a hybrid war, the common bound goal of the actions of the Russian Armed Forces last year and the actions of Russian Armed Forces' representatives Alexandrov and Yerofeyev. There's one goal here," Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said on TV Channel 5 on Wednesday.

"The accusations against them will be brought to court, and they will be also incriminated and receive their notice of suspicion of participation in stirring aggressive war and military conflict under Article 437 [of the Criminal Code of Ukraine], " he said.

Matios said that the officers will not be exchanged for other prisoners.

According to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, planning, preparation or stirring an aggressive war or a military conflict (Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), as well as the conspiring to commit such actions, is punishable by seven to twelve years in prison.

As reported, Alexandrov and Yerofeyev, members of the Russian special forces, were captured near the village of Schastia while attempting to seize a strategic bridge on May 16. One Ukrainian serviceman was killed and three others were injured in the clash. The Russian officers were also injured, one in the arm and the other in the leg, and they were subsequently transferred to the Defense Ministry's main clinical hospital in Kyiv and underwent surgery on May 29.

Ukrainian investigators officially notified Alexandrov and Yerofeyev on May 19 that they were suspected of having committed crimes under Article 258-3 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code Article, specifically their involvement in the terrorist activities of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled on May 22 that the two would be held in detention pending trial.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it considers both Russian officers as terrorists, nevertheless they would get all necessary legal and medical help.

On July 28, Advisor to SBU Chief Yuriy Tandit said that the corresponding court hearing would start in September and would be held in Ukraine.

At the end of July, both detainees were transferred from hospital to a pre-trial detention center in Kyiv.