Russian soldier gets life in prison in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial

A 21-year-old Russian soldier was found guilty Monday of killing an unarmed civilian in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial since Russia’s invasion. He was sentenced to life in prison.

A court in Kyiv handed down the verdict after Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin pleaded guilty last week to killing a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the northeastern Sumy region but said he was following orders.

Shishimarin admitted fatally shooting 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov, who was pushing his bicycle near the village of Chupakhivka, near the Russian border, during the early days of the invasion in late February.

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Shelipov “died on the spot just a few meters from his home,” according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova.

Shishimarin’s charge, “violation of the rules and customs of war,” was punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment.

Shelipov’s widow said last week she would like Shishimarin to be sentenced to life imprisonment but that she would be open to exchanging him for Ukrainian fighters who were taken to Russian-held territory from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Prosecutors argued that Shishimarin, a member of Russia’s 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya tank division, committed a war crime when he fired multiple rounds from his rifle at Shelipov. Shishimarin said he was ordered by his fellow soldiers to shoot Shelipov because he was talking on a cellphone and they feared he would report their location after they had fled a nearby battle in a stolen car.