Germany: 2 Ukrainians killed over weekend were soldiers

German police are yet to comment on a potential motive in a double homicide late on Saturday in Bavaria, with a 57-year-old Russian male suspected of killing two Ukrainian nationals outside a shopping center. 

Ukraine's embassy said over the weekend that the two men, aged 23 and 36, were members of the country's military who were based in Germany for rehabilitation.

They resided near the crime scene in Murnau am Staffelsee. 

According to Ukrainian media reports, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had asked diplomats in Germany to follow the case particularly closely and to seek the sternest possible punishments. 

Police yet to comment on war link, minister cautious in first comments

A judge put out an arrest warrant for homicide against the main suspect on Sunday.

"The investigations by public prosecutors and criminal investigators on the background and motive of the crime are ongoing," police in Murnau said on Sunday. "No comments on this matter can be made at the present time." 

Bavaria's state Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann however warned against jumping to conclusions in comments on public television. 

"There are witness statements that the three people involved were also seen together earlier," Herrmann told the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) broadcaster. 

"There are indications that a great deal of alcohol was in play for all of them. All of that needs to be investigated. At the moment we do not have a conclusive lead that this is some kind of reflection of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," he said. 

Locals however laid Ukrainian flags, flowers and messages of condolence near the site of the killings.

What happened at the weekend? 

Police responded to first emergency calls reporting two seriously wounded men in the area outside a shopping center on Saturday evening. 

According to local police, on arrival at the scene, it became clear that the 36-year-old had already succumbed to his wounds. The younger man died the same evening in a nearby hospital. 

"In the immediately launched search, a 57-year-old man was encountered and detained at his residence not far from the crime scene. The suspect is a Russian citizen." 

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians reside in Germany, with the Ukrainian numbers having risen sharply since Russia's February 2022 invasion.

msh/wd (AFP, dpa, Reuters)