Russian occupation authorities in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday sentenced three captured Ukrainian soldiers to 26 years in prison each for attempted murder and brutal treatment of civilians in Mariupol in spring 2022.
Alexei Koval, Andrei Tchumak and Valéry Fyodorovitch were found guilty of “opening fire several times from their tank on an administrative building against residential buildings” when this city in southeastern Ukraine was under siege by the Russians. According to the Russian Investigative Committee.
In recent months, Russian justice has increased the number of convictions of Ukrainian soldiers who have been captured, accusing them of various crimes.
This Tuesday, Russian justice in the Donetsk region also announced a life sentence for Igor Kleshchunov, a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who, according to prosecutors, shot dead four civilians in Mariupol.
Last week, two other captured soldiers were sentenced to 26 years in prison for the murder of a civilian in Mariupol in spring 2022.
Another soldier was sentenced to life imprisonment and two others to thirty years’ imprisonment each for similar offences, and three soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment for murders allegedly committed again in Mariupol.
The Russian army – which faced strong resistance from Ukrainian forces and in particular the Azov Regiment – besieged and destroyed much of this Ukrainian port city in the first months of the attack, causing an unspecified number of civilian deaths .
Moscow attributes all responsibility to Ukraine and denies war crimes allegations attributed to the Ukrainian military.
Source: DN
