A 21-year-old Russian soldier facing the first war crimes trial since Moscow invaded Ukraine has pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed civilian. Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin could get life in prison for shooting a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in the northeastern Sumy region on February 28, four days into the invasion.
Shishimarin, a captured member of a Russian tank unit, was prosecuted under a section of the Ukrainian criminal code that addresses the laws and customs of war. Ukrainian prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova previously said her office was readying war crimes cases against 41 Russian soldiers for offences that included bombing civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, rape and looting.
It was not immediately clear how many of the suspects were in Ukrainian hands and how many would be tried in their absence. As the inaugural war crimes case in Ukraine, Shishimarin's prosecution was being watched closely.
