Russian citizen, arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing two Ukrainian soldiers recovering in Germany

German prosecutors announced on Monday the launch of a criminal investigation into a Russian citizen arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing two Ukrainian soldiers in southern Germany over the weekend, Reuters reports.

The Ukrainian soldiers, who were recuperating after being transferred for treatment to Germany, died on Sunday. They were found near a shopping center in Murnau am See, a town in Bavaria. Both men’s bodies bore deep stab wounds.

One of them, aged 36, was pronounced dead at the scene while the second, aged 23, died in hospital from his injuries.

Police announced shortly after that a 57-year-old Russian national had been arrested at his home on suspicion of murder.

The general prosecutor’s office in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, meanwhile announced that it had taken over the case and that it could not yet rule out a political motivation behind the killings.

The Ukrainian government said in a statement that its diplomats in Germany were trying to clarify the identity of the victims with the military units they belonged to in order to inform the families.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said he had instructed the Consulate General of Ukraine in Munich to closely monitor developments in the case and stay in touch with German authorities.

A German government spokesman declined to comment on the case on Monday, saying it was the subject of a police investigation.