What are war crimes, and is Russia committing them in Ukraine?
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By Claire Parker
Updated May 23, 2022 at 7:59 p.m. EDT|Published March 3, 2022 at 2:22 p.m. EST
People stand amid newly-made graves at a cemetery in the settlement of Staryi Krym outside the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on May 22. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)
A court in Kyiv on Monday sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for killing an unarmed man, accusing 21-year-old Vandi Shishimarin of premeditated murder and violating the “rules and customs of war.”
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The trial was the first prosecution of a Russian service member for war crimes committed in Ukraine since the Feb. 24 invasion. Shishimarin pleaded guilty to shooting Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, in the northeastern Sumy region in the first week of the war.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said Monday that authorities have opened more than 13,000 investigations into suspected war crimes committed by the Russian government and military. Two more soldiers are already on trial for allegedly shelling civilian targets in the region of Kharkiv.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/03/russia-ukraine-war-crimes-explainer/
