KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A captured Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a Ukrainian civilian was sentenced Monday to life in prison – the maximum – in the first war crimes trial since Moscow invaded Ukraine three months ago.
Meanwhile, in a rare public expression of opposition to the war from the ranks of the Russian elite, a veteran Kremlin diplomat resigned and sent a scathing letter to foreign colleagues in which he said, “Never have I been so ashamed of my country as on Feb. 24 of this year.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “maximum” sanctions against Russia in a video address to world leaders and executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
On the battlefield, heavy fighting raged in the Donbas in the east, where Moscow’s forces have stepped up their bombardments. Cities not under Russian control were constantly shelled, and one Ukrainian military official said Russian forces targeted civilians trying to flee.
In the first in what could be multitudes of similar prosecutions, Russian Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was sentenced for the killing of a a 62-year-old man who was shot in the head in a village in the northeastern Sumy region in the early days of the war. Shishimarin, a member of a tank unit, apologized to the man’s widow in court.