A Ukrainian court on Tuesday sentenced two Russian soldiers to 11 and a half years in prison accused of having bombarded with multiple missile launchers two villages in the Kharkiv region, in the east of the country, on the first day of the invasion.
Alexander Bobykin and Alexander Ivanov were found guilty of “violation of the laws and customs of war”, following a trial that began in mid-May near the city of Poltava, announced the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine on Telegram.
According to the prosecution, the two defendants “fully admitted their guilt”.
The two soldiers, a driver-loader and an artilleryman, were accused of having fired on February 24, using “Grad” multiple missile launchers from the Belgorod region in Russia, at “critical infrastructure and buildings houses” in the villages of Kozatchia Lopan and a school in Veterynarné, in the Kharkiv region.
According to the prosecution, they then crossed the Ukrainian border and continued the shelling. After the destruction of their military column, the two soldiers were captured by the Ukrainian army.
On May 23, Ukrainian justice had already sentenced a 21-year-old Russian non-commissioned officer, Vadim Chichimarine, to life imprisonment for the murder of a civilian. He was the first Russian soldier to be tried for a war crime since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Ukrainian prosecutor Iryna Venediktova announced on Monday the opening of the first case concerning a rape committed by Russian soldiers.
The case targets a Russian soldier accused of murdering a civilian and raping his wife during the occupation of the town of Brovary, near kyiv. However, the accused has not been arrested and is “currently wanted”, according to Ms. Venediktova.
The prosecution is also investigating two other Russian soldiers accused of torturing civilians in Cherniguiv, in northern Ukraine.