Russian Marine sentenced to life for shooting Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Kursk region of Russia

The Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv found a Russian soldier guilty of a war crime and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

This was reported by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

The convicted person is a rifleman from the 40th Separate Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Armed Forces. As Suspilne specifies, he is 53-year-old Vladimir Ivanov.

In January 2025, during the fighting in the Kursk region, he, together with other military personnel, set up an ambush near the positions of Ukrainian units.

Two Ukrainian soldiers surrendered. They laid down their weapons and raised their hands above their heads. Despite this, a Russian soldier shot at them. Both prisoners of war died.

The court found that there was no military necessity to use force, and the convict was aware of the criminality of the order and could have refused to carry it out.

The Russian marine was found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war and group cruel treatment of prisoners of war, which led to their death (Part 1 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to Suspilne, the deceased are Ukrainian servicemen of the 241st Separate Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The ex-wife of one of them demanded payment of UAH 100 million in favour of her and the 14-year-old son of the deceased.

The court decided to partially satisfy the claim — Ivanov, jointly with the Russian government, must pay UAH 50 million in favor of the minor son of the deceased Ukrainian soldier.

• This is the third case in which a Russian citizen has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Ukrainian court for the shooting of prisoners of war. The first such sentence was given to Dmitry Kurashov in November 2025, and the second to Sergey Tuzhilov in January 2026. But Ivanovʼs case was the first involving the shooting of Ukrainian servicemen in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation.

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