Ukrainian authorities are currently investigating thousands of war crimes in their country. Two Russian soldiers are now being convicted. They are said to have attacked small villages with rockets and destroyed homes and schools.
In Ukraine, two Russian soldiers have been sentenced to eleven and a half years in prison for rocket attacks on civilian facilities. According to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, soldiers Alexander Bobykin and Alexander Ivanov were found guilty of violating "the laws and customs of war" by shelling two villages in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.
It was the second verdict against Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Last week, the first Russian soldier was convicted of war crimes during the February 24 invasion of Moscow. The Ukrainian authorities say they are conducting thousands of investigations into war crimes.
The soldiers convicted by a court in the Poltava region on Tuesday were charged with firing several Grad rockets at the villages of Kosachia Lopan and Weterynarné from Russia's Belgorod region on the day the war began. The rockets are said to have hit "essential infrastructure", residential buildings and a school.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, Bobykin and Ivanov later crossed the Ukrainian border and continued the attacks. After their military convoy was destroyed in the fighting, the two soldiers were arrested by the Ukrainian army.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, the two soldiers pleaded guilty in the case. Her defense unsuccessfully asked for a lighter sentence, arguing that the defendants followed orders and acted under duress.
On Monday last week, a court in the capital Kyiv sentenced a 21-year-old soldier to life imprisonment for shooting dead a 62-year-old civilian in north-eastern Ukraine. The Russian confessed to the crime in court and asked for forgiveness.
A wave of trials in Ukraine against Russian military officers for alleged war crimes is expected. Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova announced on Monday the first rape trial against a Russian soldier. According to her, the accused is not in custody, he is "currently wanted".
