(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The public prosecutor general's office in Munich has taken over the investigation into the murder of Ukrainian soldiers in Bavaria, as a political motivation for the crime cannot be ruled out.

This was confirmed by a spokesperson for the prosecutor general's office in response to Ukrinform's request.

"The public prosecutor general's office in Munich and the Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism took over the investigation on April 29, as a political motivation cannot be ruled out... The motive for the crime is currently still unclear. However, a political motivation cannot be ruled out and investigations are being carried out in all directions," the spokesman said.

Read also: Two Ukrainians killed in Germany were military personnel - MFA

Local police are also investigating the case in cooperation with the public prosecutor general's office.

The Institute of Forensic Medicine in Munich performed autopsies on the victims on Sunday, April 28.

The two victims, citizens of Ukraine, were military servicemen undergoing medical rehabilitation in Germany after being injured since the second half of 2023.

The suspect, a 57-year-old Russian citizen, is in custody. During the preliminary investigation, it became known that the suspect had been living in Germany since the early 1990s.

"According to preliminary data, the two victims and the accused knew each other," the spokesman added.

Meanwhile, a small memorial to Ukrainian victims of hatred in Germany has appeared outside the Ukrainian Embassy in Berlin, bearing the names of the soldiers killed in Bavaria - Volodymyr Kozin and Viacheslav Bezuglyi.

As reported, on the evening of April 27, the two severely injured men were found outside a shopping center in the village of Murnau in Upper Bavaria, Germany. A 36-year-old man died at the scene from his stab wounds, and a 23-year-old man died in the hospital despite immediate resuscitation efforts.

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