A court in central Ukraine sentenced two Russian soldiers to 11 and a half years in prison for shelling a town in the country's northeast during the war. Since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February, it was the second guilty verdict handed down by Ukrainian courts for war crimes.
The soldiers, Aleksandr Bobikin and Aleksandr Ivanov, an artillery driver and gunner, were found guilty of shelling the town of Derhachi, north of Kharkiv, from Russia.
Judge Evhen Bolybok told the courtroom of Kotelva district court in central Ukraine the guilt of Bobikin and Ivanov has been proved in full.
When the proceedings began last week, both men admitted to being members of a unit that targeted Derhachi with shelling from Belgorod, a region of Belgorod, on the Russian side of the border. The men and their unit entered Ukraine and continued to attack the town. They surrendered to the Ukrainian authorities later.