Russian troops murdered an entire family in Russian-occupied Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast, for refusing to give their homes to Chechen troops, Ukrainian Parliament Ombudsman for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets wrote on Telegram on Oct. 29.

Lubinets said that nine people had been killed by the Russians in a house during a birthday party. Among the dead were a 4th-grade student and a preschool boy. Gunshot wounds were found on the bodies of the victims, Lubinets said.

"There is no doubt that the blood-stained hands of Russians are involved," the commissioner said.

“Just like traces of Russian torture were found in Bucha, Irpin, Izyum, and other Ukrainian cities where the 'liberators' were present.”

He said that crimes, including mass murders, in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine would stop only after their liberation from Russian military occupation.

Earlier on Oct. 29, Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, also reported the murder of a family in Volnovakha. He said this was “the worst crime of the Russians since the start of their occupation, and one that they are no longer trying to hide.”

The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed nine bodies had been discovered in Volnovakha. Additionally, the Russian news outlet ASTRA wrote, citing locals, that the murder was committed by a Russian soldier embroiled in a conflict with one of the murdered victims, a man, according to neighbors and relatives.

Eyewitnesses said that on Oct. 27 the family was marking a birthday, and that night they were all killed by gunshots to the head while in their beds.