First Russian soldier standing trial for war crimes in Ukraine pleads guilty to murdering civilian
dailyrecord.co.ukA Russian soldier standing trial for committing war crimes by murdering a civilian in Ukraine has pleaded guilty.A Kyiv district court met on May 18 to begin hearing its first war crimes trial against a Russian soldier who took part in Moscow's February 24 invasion, a case of huge symbolic value for Ukraine.Russian tank commander Vadim Shishimarin, 21, is charged with murdering a civilian, aged 62, in the Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on February 28.
He told the court that he pleaded guilty, The Mirror reports. If convicted, Shishimarin faces up to life imprisonment.The Kyiv government has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality against civilians during the invasion and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes.Russia has denied targeting civilians or involvement in war crimes and accused Kyiv of staging them to smear its forces.Ukrainian state prosecutors have said the soldier and four other Russian servicemen fired at and stole a privately ownedcar to escape after their column was targeted by Ukrainian forces.The Russian soldiers drove into the village of Chupakhivka where they saw an unarmed resident riding a bicycle and talking on his phone, they said.They said Shishimarin was ordered by another serviceman to kill the civilian to prevent him reporting on the Russians' presence and fired several shots through the open window of the car with an assault rifle at the civilian's head.
The civilian died on the spot.The SBU Security Service of Ukraine conducted the investigation into the case, it said.State prosecutor Andriy Synyuk told reporters after his first hearing last week: "This is the first case today.
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