A lawyer for one of two Russian servicemen on trial in Ukraine has been found shot dead, according to officials.

Yuri Grabovsky was representing Alexander Alexandrov, who was captured along with another Russian last year in rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

The two men admitted they were Russian officers but Moscow said they had resigned from active duty. Russia has repeatedly denied it was supplying the separatists with equipment or recruits.

The Ukrainian National Bar Association said in a statement on Friday that Grabovsky, who was declared missing earlier this month, had been found dead. The group said suspects had been detained.

Hearings in the trial of the two Russians were adjourned in early March when Grabovsky did not appear in court.

Anatoly Matios, the chief military prosecutor, said Grabovsky’s body was found with a gunshot wound early on Friday morning buried south of the capital, Kiev, after a suspect had told prosecutors about the location. Another suspect in the killing was detained later, he said.

The prosecutor would not immediately identify the motive for the killing or reveal the names of the suspects.