Russian soldier, 21, handed life sentence in first war crimes trial of Russia-Ukraine war

A Russian soldier has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial since Moscow declared war against the country in February this year.

21-year-old Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin was accused of shooting a Ukrainian civilian in the head in a village in the northeastern Sumy region.

The Russian soldier pleaded guilty and testified that he was following orders. He told the court that another Russian officer had told him that the Ukrainian civilian, who was talking on his mobile phone, could disclose their location to the Ukrainian Army.

On Monday afternoon, May 23, the 21-year-old sergeant was handed a life sentence.

He was convicted of shooting the Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in a village in the northeastern Sumy region on February 28, four days into the Russian invasion.

Prosecutors in Ukraine are investigating thousands of potential war crimes following months of wide-scale bloodshed following the Russian invasion.

The Russian forces bombed a theatre where civilians were sheltering and struck a maternity hospital.

Also, streets were filled with bodies and mass graves were found in Ukraine’s Bucha after the Russian forces withdrew from the town.