The Kotelevsky District Court of Poltava oblast found two Russian servicemen, Oleksandr Bobykin and Oleksandr Ivanov, guilty of shelling the Kharkiv oblast from MLRS
This was reported by the newspaper "Grad".
They were found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war and sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison. According to the investigation, on the first day of the full-scale invasion, Bobykin and Ivanov fired at Kharkiv oblast from Russian and later Ukrainian territory from Grad multiple rocket launchers destroying civilian infrastructure, residential buildings and lyceums. The defendants pleaded guilty in full, so the court did not examine the evidence.
The court considered the defendantsʼ sincere remorse as a mitigating circumstance but rejected the defense counselʼs argument that he had committed the crime under duress. Until the verdict comes into force, the accused will be in jail.
- On May 23, Kyivʼs Solomianskyi District Court handed down the first sentence to a Russian war criminal who shot and killed a 62-year-old Sumy resident during the invasion of Ukraine. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian sergeant, was sentenced to life in prison for the crime.