A boy, 10, and girl, nine, have been called as witnesses in a case against their own mother (Picture: Getty Images)

A young brother and sister have been forced to give evidence in a criminal case against their own mum after she was accused of repeatedly ‘discrediting’ the Russian army.

Lidia Prudovskaya previously faced administrative charges for similar allegations after sharing anti-war posts on Russian social media platform VKontakte in September 2022.

She has now been called before the court by Russian investigators once again.

Her two children – a son, 10, and daughter, nine – were also summoned to give testimony in the case.

The family, from the northern region of Arkhangelsk, all received their orders on Friday, according to Russian news outlet Sota.

Discrediting the Russian military is a criminal offence under a law adopted after Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

The law is regularly used against Kremlin critics.

A new law was introduced under Vladimir Putin’s regime making it illegal to ‘discredit’ the Russian military (Picture: AFP)

In April, Russian authorities petitioned to restrict the parental rights of a single father convicted of discrediting the army following an anti-war sketch drawn by his daughter at school.

Alexei Moskalyov, 54, was sentenced to two years in prison for social media comments he had made criticising Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

His 13-year-old daughter Maria was placed in an orphanage but then later moved to live with her mother.

This week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed his troops made a ‘significant’ breakthrough in the south of the country.

The law is implemented to punish those who criticise the Kremlin (Picture: Getty Images)

He posted a video on Thursday showing a group of soldiers holding a Ukrainian flag and said they had seized back control of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region, next to the Zaporizhzhia province.

Zelensky declared: ‘Our South! Our guys! Glory to Ukraine!’ 

In his nightly address on Wednesday he added: ‘By the way, today our boys had very good results at the front. Good for them.’

It comes as fierce fighting continues to rage in southeastern Ukraine as part of its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A girl, 9, and her brother, 10, will be forced to give evidence.