A Ukrainian court sentenced two Russian soldiers to a combined total of and a half years in prison for bombing a city in eastern Ukraine, in the second verdict for war crimes since the start of the war.
Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov pleaded guilty to “violating the laws of war ” at the Kotelevska district court in central Ukraine last week.
Both had admitted to being part of an artillery unit that fired on targets in Kharkiv from the Belgorod region of Russia.
The shelling destroyed an educational facility in the city of Derhachi, but caused no casualties, prosecutors said.
“The guilt of Bobikin and Ivanov has been fully proven,” Judge Evhen Bolybok said . Both soldiers, described as artillerymen, were captured after crossing the border.
Prosecutors had asked the court to jail the Russian soldiers for 12 years, while the defense asked for leniency, saying that the two soldiers had been following orders and had repented.
“I am completely guilty of the crimes of which I am accused. We fired on Ukraine from Russia,” Bobikin told the court in proceedings that were broadcast live last Thursday.
In another case, a Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison last Monday for killing an unarmed civilian.
Vadim Shishimarin, a commander tank soldier of 21 years, pleaded guilty to killing Oleksandr Shelipov, of 62 years, in the village of Chupakhivka, in the north-east of Ukraine, on 28 February, four days after the invasion.
It is said that he executed a “criminal order” after firing several shots at the victim’s head with an automatic weapon.
Many more such trials are expected as the war progresses, with Vladimir Putin’s troops accused of atrocities and brutality against civilians across Ukraine.
Russian forces have been accused of killing civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha and of repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and a theater in the besieged city of Mariupol, which was being used as a refuge by hundreds of civilians.
Representatives of the European Union judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust, will meet with members of a Joint Investigation Team and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan in The Hague on Tuesday to discuss an ongoing investigation into alleged war crimes.
Also read:
· Video: Russian soldier facing the first trial for war crimes apologizes to the widow of his victim
· Video: This is how Russian troops destroy Ukrainian targets with the lethal Malka artillery system
· Stories from the war: Ukrainian cyclist cycled 7 hours to escape bombing