Investigators in Killing of 2 Ukrainians in Germany Are Looking into a Possible Political Motive

Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo
Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo
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Investigators in Killing of 2 Ukrainians in Germany Are Looking into a Possible Political Motive

Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo
Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo

The public prosecutor general's office in Munich on Monday took over the investigation into the stabbing deaths of two Ukrainian men in southern Germany because of a possible political motivation for the crime, German news agency dpa reported.

The two Ukrainians, who were 23 and 36 years old and lived in the southern German county of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, were killed at a shopping center in the village of Murnau in Upper Bavaria. Shortly after the slayings on Saturday evening, police arrested a 57-year-old Russian on suspicion of murder, dpa reported.

The public prosecutor general's office usually takes over investigations from regular prosecutors if there is a possibility that a crime was politically motivated. The Bavarian Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism is also involved in the investigation of the killings, dpa reported, The AP reported.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday that it appeared the two men were military servicemen undergoing medical rehabilitation in Germany.

The names of the victims and the suspect weren’t released in line with German privacy rules. The motive for the killings isn't yet known, authorities said.

According to an initial investigation, the three men knew each other, but further details need to be verified, local police spokesperson Stefan Sonntag told dpa. There were also indications that all three men had consumed alcohol.

“We have clear evidence that the suspect was under the influence of alcohol,” Sonntag was quoted as saying.

A spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday expressed concern about the killings.

“This is a worrying incident, no question about it. The circumstances must now be investigated more closely," Steffen Hebestreit told reporters in Berlin.

“We can only speculate about the motives at the moment," he added. "But it is clear that we cannot tolerate such a thing on German soil anyway and that the Ukrainians, Ukrainians who have fled to us from the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, must now be safe.”

More than 1 million Ukrainian refugees have come to Germany since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Germany is also home to a significant Russian immigrant community and 2.5 million Russians of German ancestry who mostly moved to the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.



China Detains Principal Over Lead Poisoning of 200 Children

Kindergarten students draw the Chinese national flag in a classroom in Hong Kong, China, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Kindergarten students draw the Chinese national flag in a classroom in Hong Kong, China, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
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China Detains Principal Over Lead Poisoning of 200 Children

Kindergarten students draw the Chinese national flag in a classroom in Hong Kong, China, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Kindergarten students draw the Chinese national flag in a classroom in Hong Kong, China, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

A kindergarten principal was detained after more than 200 children in northwestern China fell ill with potential lead poisoning from date cakes and corn rolls, state media said on Tuesday.

Investigators found "abnormal" levels of lead in the blood of 233 children at Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui city, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Of those, 201 of the children are being treated in hospital.

Food safety scandals were once common in China, where tainted milk formula made hundreds of thousands of babies ill in 2008 and was linked to six deaths.
City authorities investigated the head of the kindergarten last week after receiving reports that children were falling ill.

A parent told state-run Jimu News tabloid last week that children had been experiencing stomach pain and nausea, and that some of their teeth turned black.

Testing revealed that samples of three-color steamed date cakes and corn rolls contained more than 2,000 times the national safety standard for food contaminants.

The cake, served at breakfast, returned a reading of 1,052 milligrams per kilogram and the roll, served at another meal, was found with 1,340 milligrams per kilogram.

The nationwide limit for lead in wheat and starch is 0.5 milligrams per kilogram, according to Chinese government records.

CCTV said security footage shows kitchen staff adding packaged yellow coloring to a flour mix used in both contaminated dishes, AFP reported.

The kindergarten's principal, surnamed Zhu, and an investor surnamed Li have been detained along with six other people, CCTV said. Two others are on "bail pending trial".

Investigators found that Zhu and Li allowed kitchen staff to produce food using paint pigments purchased online that were later found to contain lead and were marked inedible.

Testing among children attending other kindergartens linked with Peixin returned normal results.

Food safety standards have generally improved across China but revelations last year that cooking oil had been transported in containers also used to carry fuel sparked outrage across Chinese social media.