The soldier was accused of killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial of the conflict.
Image source, Reuters
A Russian soldier on trial for war crimes in Ukraine has pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed civilian.
Vadim Shishimarin, 21, is accused of gunning down a 62-year-old man in the days after the invasion began. He could face life in prison.
Prosecutors say more trials are to come, after identifying other potential war crimes committed by Russian soldiers.
Moscow has denied its troops have targeted civilians.
The trial is the first case of its kind since Russia’s invasion in February.
It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, with an interpreter translating the proceedings into Russian for the defendant.
He is accused of killing the civilian, who was allegedly on a bicycle, near the village of Chupakhivka in the eastern Sumy region on 28 February, four days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is a tiny court room for a highly significant moment: the first trial of a Russian soldier for an alleged war crime.
Vadim Shishimarin, a very young-looking 21-year-old, was brought into the room in handcuffs by heavily armed guards.
He looks nervous, often keeps his headed bowed and listens intently to his translator through the glass.
Just a couple of metres from him, the widow of the man killed is sitting.
As the accused soldier entered court, she wiped tears from her eyes, then sat with hands clasped as the prosecutor set out his case, describing the moment Kateryna’s husband was shot in the head.
And for the first time, she heard the Russian soldier admit to the murder.
“Do you accept your guilt?” the judge asked. “Yes,” Shishimarin replied.
“Totally?” “Yes,” he replied quietly in his grey metal-and-glass cage.
Prosecutors say Shishimarin was commanding a unit in a tank division when his convoy came under attack.
He and four other soldiers stole a car, and as they travelled near Chupakhivka, they encountered a 62-year-old man on a bicycle, they said.
According to prosecutors, Shishimarin was ordered to kill the civilian and used a Kalashnikov assault rifle to do so.
The Kremlin said earlier it was not informed about the case.
The trial has been postponed until Thursday.