A captured Russian tank commander in court for murdering an innocent Ukrainian grandfather could be used in a prisoner swap deal.
Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, on trial for war crimes, smirked in the dock as he heard he might yet be set free as part of an exchange - despite killing unarmed Oleksandr Shelypov, 62.
The 21-year-old POW sheepishly begged for "forgiveness" and hung his head during cross-examination from his victim's widow Kateryn, 61, yesterday at Kyiv's Appeal Court.
The sadistic soldier, from Irkutsk in Siberia, had shot Oleksandr in the head with an AK-47 assault rifle in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivk on the fifth day of his country's invasion.
His mood quickly changed when prosecutors said two of his comrades, due to give evidence against him, had been shipped back home as part of a swap and he learned he could have the same fate.
The case was adjourned for sentencing today, with the defendant facing life in prison.
Kateryna told judges on Thursday she would support swapping her husband's killer for 1,700 Ukrainian troops captured in the Azovstal factory siege in Mariupol.
Kateryna had previously said she hoped he would "rot in jail".
She said: "I want him to get life, but if he is exchanged for defenders of the Azovstal, our boys from Mariupol, I will not mind. I will not be against it."
Moscow forces are holding the defending fighters who had been living in the tunnels under the captured plant.
Russia has subjected the southern port city to almost constant airstrikes, leaving it largely in ruins, before it fell to their control - one of Vladimir Putin's only successes during the war.
But outnumbered Ukrainian forces at the plant continued to hold strong until succumbing this week.
Kyiv has confirmed it is negotiating an exchange of the fighters for captured Russian prisoners.
However, the Kremlin has not publicly agreed to anything.
It is rumoured Putin is planning to put Ukrainians on trial.
Kateryna cross-examined Shishimarin on the stand, demanding: "Tell me what did you feel when you killed my husband? Do you repent of this crime?"
The defendant replied: "I admit my guilt. I understand you can't forgive me. I ask for your forgiveness."
Kateryna said: "Tell me, please, why did you come here? To protect us? From whom? From my husband who you killed?"
Shishimarin answered: "We were just following our orders."
Prosecutors said Oleksandr - who had served as a KGB bodyguard in the Soviet Union - was pushing his bike home when he was gunned down yards from his door on February 28.
Shishimarin said he was on the backseat of a VW Passat he and his two comrades had stolen after escaping an ambush by defending forces.
They had been trying to evacuate fellow Russian soldiers who had been injured during an apparent friendly fire incident prior to the attack.
Shishimarin claimed an officer demanded he shoot Oleksandr.
"I did not want to. He started to say in a forceful tone that I should shoot," he said.
"He was saying I was going to put us all in danger if I don't. I shot him at short range with an automatic burst. It killed him. I did not want to kill him. I shot him so they would leave me alone."
Shishimarin said the officer was subsequently killed in a neighbouring village after the unit was attacked by civilians armed with hunting rifles before they eventually surrendered.
Kateryna previously said she had attended the trial to see her husband's killer up close.
"He looked like a child, but nevertheless he will get his punishment," she said.
The widow added: "I know he is a serviceman and he is following orders but why didn’t he shoot at the ground or in the air?
"He should rot in jail, and spend the rest of his days thinking about what he has done."
