The Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine's southern district has said seven more Russian military officers have been notified on suspicion of engaging in an aggressive war or aggressive military actions against 24 captured prisoner of war (POW) Ukrainian Naval Forces sailors.

Suspicion notices of committing crimes under the relevant Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 437 of Ukraine's Criminal were served on February 16 by the investigators of Ukraine's SBU State Security Service in Odesa region to Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov - Commander of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation, Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseev - commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, as well as five servicemen-border guards of the Border Department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Crimea.

Prosecutors said two days after the incident, on November 27, 2018, eight Russian servicemen were informed of the suspicion of committing crimes.

"The pretrial investigation established that all 15 soldiers of the Russian Federation who have already been informed of the suspicion were involved in waging an aggressive war. In particular, they organized, coordinated and participated in the attack by military ships of the Russian Federation and other military officials of the Black Sea Fleet and the Border Guard Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation on boats of the Ukrainian Navy, as a result of which Ukrainian sailors were captured along with military equipment," the report says.

As earlier reported, on November 25, 2018 Russian border guards captured the Yany Kapu tugboat and small armored artillery boats of Ukraine's Naval Forces. The prisoners of war were transported to Moscow on November 29.

Russian officials have charged the Ukrainian sailors with illegal crossing of Russia's border. Ukraine, European Union member states and the United States say the Ukrainian sailors are prisoners of war and should be immediately released.