A soldier fighting for Russia during its conflict with neighbouring Ukraine has been sentenced to life in jail over war crimes he committed. A court in Ukraine heard that Vadim Shishimarin killed a 62-year-old man during the early days of the war which has now been going on for three months. The 21-year-old sergeant pleaded guilty to the charge, HullLive reports.
The soldier shot the civilian in the head through an open car window while fighting in the Sumy region of north-eastern Ukraine on February 28, four days after the invasion began. Shishimarin is a captured tank unit officer and was prosecuted under part of the Ukrainian criminal code which looks at war laws and customs.
Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine's prosecutor general, has said previously that her office is investigating war crimes against 41 Russian troops. These range from killing civilians, looting, rape and bomb attacks on infrastructure used by the public.
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While it is not clear how many suspects will be appear on trial in person, it is reported that there are more than 10,700 potential war crimes involving 600 suspects including Russian government figures. The evidence is being collected for possible trials at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
According to Ms Venediktova's Facebook account, Shishimarin was in a group of Russian soldiers fleeing Ukrainian forces on February 28. They fired at a private car before seizing the vehicle which they drove to the village of Chupakhivka, around 200 miles away from Kyiv.
While heading to the village, Ms Venediktova said the Russians noticed a man walking along a pavement and talking on his phone. Shishimarin was ordered to kill him in case the man reported them to the authorities, the prosecutor general said.
The man was killed to a few dozen metres away from his house. Ukraine's security service - the SBU - posted a video on May 4 of Shishimarin speaking on camera about the incident and how he shot the civilian.
“I was ordered to shoot,” Shyshimarin said. “I shot one (round) at him. He falls. And we kept on going.”
It is reported that Russia is preparing war crime trials for Ukrainian soldiers.
