A 21-year-old Russian soldier told a court today that he had not wanted to kill an unarmed civilian and that he sincerely repented, as he delivered his final words at the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
Vadim Shishimarin, a tank commander, has pleaded guilty to killing Oleksandr Shelipov, a 62-year-old civilian, in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on Feb. 28.
Shishimarin is accused of firing several shots with an assault rifle at a civilian’s head from a car after being ordered to do so.
Defence lawyer Viktor Ovsiannikov told the court that Shishimarin had only fired the rounds after twice refusing to carry out the order to shoot and that only one out of three-to-four rounds hit the target.
