Kyiv court begins war crimes trial

A 21-year-old Russian soldier went on trial Friday in Kyiv for the killing of an unarmed Ukrainian civilian, marking the first war crime prosecution of a member of the Russian military from 11 weeks of bloodshed in Ukraine.

The soldier, a captured member of a tank unit, is accused of shooting a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in Chupakhivka during the early days of the war.

Sgt. Vadim Shyshimarin, sat in a glassed-off area inside a small courtroom at the Solomyanskyy district court in Kyiv, faces up to life in prison under a section of the Ukrainian criminal code that addresses the laws and customs of war. Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said Friday that her office was readying 41 war crimes cases against Russian soldiers.