These images show Russian soldiers opening fire on civilian vehicles during the early days of the invasion of Ukraine, with the Ukrainian authorities naming these five suspects.

The footage was obtained from the Ukrainian National Police, who said that the Russian military had “staged a real ‘hunt’ for people”.

The Ukrainian authorities have said that they have identified five Russian soldiers who allegedly shot at civilian cars near Kyiv during the first days of the invasion.

The Russian soldiers are charged with killing five people and injuring a further six, who were trying to flee Hostomel on 25th February, a day after Russian troops began their invasion.

They have been named by the Ukrainian authorities in the CCTV footage of the killings.

Kazeichev Sergey Viktorovich, 51, OMON Commander of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, allegedly took part in shooting at civilian cars during the invasion of Ukraine, according to the National Police of Ukraine.

OMON is a system of special police units within the National Guard of Russia. It previously operated within the structures of the Soviet and Russian Ministries of Internal Affairs.

Veikkolainen Sergey Valerievich, 45, OMON Deputy Commander for Krasnoyarsk Krai, is also charged, as well as Potopalskiy Oleg Vasilievich, 51, Deputy Head of the Department of the Federal Service of the Russian Guard Troops of the Krasnoyarsk Krai.

The other two suspects are Milakhaev Alexey Sergeevich, 44, and Gadalov Nikita Sergeevich, 44, both servicemen of the National Guard of the Russian Federation.

The National Police of Ukraine also said in a statement attributed to the Head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, on Wednesday, 28th September: “On 25th February, Russian occupiers in Gostomel shot 12 cars with all types of weapons. The smallest number of hits in vehicles was 38 bullets, the largest was 178.”

The statement added that on that day, at least “11 were killed and were 15 wounded in the Kyiv region” on one stretch of road alone (seen in the footage), and accused the Russian military of staging “a real ‘hunt’ for people.”

The National Police also said: “Due to the fact of the mass shooting of people who tried to escape from the war, the employees of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, under the procedural guidance of the Kyiv Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 6, initiated criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Art. 438 (Violation of laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. And so they engaged all the operational capabilities and began to work on establishing the military personnel of the Russian Federation, who are involved in the brutal murder of people.”

Klymenko said: “Frightened people wanted only one thing – to leave the war zone as soon as possible. And the Russian Guards arranged a real hunt for the locals. They fired 178 bullets into one of the cars.”

The statement added: “Thanks to the painstaking work of investigators and operatives, numerous interrogations of witnesses and dozens of examinations, the police obtained evidence of the involvement of specific servicemen of the ‘Rosguard of the Russian Federation’ in mass shootings of civilians with the use of automatic weapons and armoured vehicles.”

The statement also said: “Only on 25th February, the Russian occupiers killed 11 and injured 15 people on a section of the road. Among the victims of the invaders is a citizen of the Russian Federation. Among the victims of enemy bullets are a German citizen and employees of the Buchansk District Police Department. This unit entered the territory of Ukraine with a special task – to seize the Government Quarter and eliminate the top leadership of Ukraine,” the Head of the National Police noted.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 218th day of the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 29th September, Russia had lost about 58,580 personnel, 2,325 tanks, 4,909 armoured combat vehicles, 1,385 artillery units, 331 multiple launch rocket systems, 175 air defence systems, 262 warplanes, 224 helicopters, 995 drones, 246 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,751 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 131 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, has called for new sanctions on Russia “to make the Kremlin pay” for escalating the war in Ukraine.

European countries have said that they will increase security around oil and gas installations after the Nord Stream pipelines were allegedly sabotaged.

The European Union, the United States and NATO have all suggested that the pipeline damage between Russia and Germany was caused deliberately but have fallen short of officially blaming Russia directly.

European politicians have warned that the suspected sabotage could bring about a new era of hybrid warfare geared towards targeting energy infrastructure with the goal of undermining support for Ukraine.

The Russian-installed leaders of the Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine have formally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to annex the territories and formally make them part of Russia.

Downing Street has said that UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call that Britain would never recognise Russian attempts to annex regions in Ukraine.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has also denounced the “illegal referenda and their falsified outcome”.

Moscow has dismissed claims that Russia carried out attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, calling them “quite predictable and also predictably stupid”.

Russian authorities in North Ossetia are reportedly implementing travel restrictions to stop Russian citizens from fleeing to Georgia to avoid the draft.

Russian authorities have also said that they are setting up checkpoints at some of their borders to conscript men seeking to flee the mobilisation.

The United States’ embassy in Moscow has issued a security alert and asked American citizens to leave Russia immediately, saying that dual Russian-US citizens could be called up by the Kremlin to fight in Ukraine.