Russian soldier pleads guilty during Ukraine’s first war crimes trial | USA TODAY

Russian Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, is facing life in prison after pleading guilty to shooting a Ukrainian man in the head.

RELATED: Ukrainian soldiers evacuate Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol

Shishimarin could get life in prison for shooting the 62-year-old Ukrainian man. Shishimarin was among a group of Russian troops that fled Ukrainian forces on Feb. 28, prosecutors say. The Russians allegedly fired at a private car and seized the vehicle, then drove to Chupakhivka, a village about 200 miles east of Kyiv.

On the way, prosecutors say Russian soldiers saw a man walking on the sidewalk and talking on his phone. Shyshimarin was ordered to kill the man so he could not report them to Ukrainian military authorities. Who gave the order was not revealed.

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#Ukraine #Russia #WarCrimes

53 comments

  1. It’s always the little guys that take the fall. Where are the commanders who order this? There were blanket orders to kill civilians suspected of having made themselves enemy combatants by virtue of “arming” themselves with military information, then feeding it to Ukrainian military. This kind of show-trial is a publicity stunt. It is the higher ups who designed the strategies and gave the orders who need to be pursued. The shelling and destruction of civilian residential buildings in Kharkiv, Melitopol, Mariupol — those were deliberate, they were part of a strategic design. Go after the people who gave the orders. What good does it do to go after a kid like this who would have been shot in the head himself by his own Tik-Tok mercenaries if he failed to carry out the orders?

    1. John 3:16
      New International Version
      16 For God so loved(A) the world that he gave(B) his one and only Son,(C) that whoever believes(D) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(E) 🙏!

    2. @biscaynediver Military court… we not in the world court because they would go after us on war crimes lol.

    1. Just widows? no sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, grand fathers, grand mothers? Etc.

  2. Goofy conundrum for soldiers. You do as you’re told an risk this, or you get shot on the spot for refusing to obey an order in that regime. And now he’s on parade in that glass box as an example. As a soldier, I feel sorry for him.

    1. You have to remember that these men volunteered for the Russian military. They are not conscripts. If you join an army knowing you will be expected to follow all commands given, you better be sure that army has a clean human rights record.

    2. @Coldwater Hunter Can’t recall it but beheading videos tend be as abundant as oxygen. The slow-mo ISIS videos are pretty crazy. The way peoples’ faces contort and flex in slow-mo when they take a shotgun shell to the head is just wild.

    3. @Magi Gooter I think his name was Yevgeny Rodionov but it could have been another guy. The video shows him sitting on a log with his hands tied behind his back and just chatting with his captor. They kind of laugh together. The captor is smoking a cigarette. Then the captor pushes him to the ground and starts sawing off his head with what looks like a Finka. The conscript chokes and gurgles for a few seconds and then you can tell the exact moment he died.

    4. @Coldwater Hunter Big oof. The ones where they act casual with their victims are rough. I find it more digestible when everybody knows what’s coming and just accepts it.

  3. This young man will spend the rest of his life in prison while his commander and chief sits at home in Russia thinking about what he’s gonna have for dinner this evening…

    1. @makemwunder “when Russia finishes taking over Ukraine” – I seriously doubt it going to happen any time soon. More over I’m not sure it’s in the best interest of Russia too.

  4. Of course they forced him! almost like how cheap jail court lawyers u meet by the window tell and try to convince you to plea guilty in exchange for a deal like here in New York.

  5. He had no choice. He would have been killed if he refused a direct order. This is heartbraking. Damned if you do, damned if you dont. And that poor innocent old man.

    1. ​@MrJesvi When you’re aiming your rifle barrel down at a civilian and your superior tells you to shoot, the right thing to do is to not shoot and walk away. Say that your gun jammed up. It’s not that hard to not commit a war crime. I don’t care about your black or white fallacies. No matter what civilian you’re aiming at you don’t kill them. If you do then you either know that what you’re doing is wrong or you were never human to begin with. Even the most infantile people in the world know the coscious difference between right and wrong when it comes to murdering innocent people.

  6. WOW! 2 days?
    The Johnny Depp, Amber Heard trial has already lasted 18 days.
    Sounds like it was “predetermined justice.”

    1. This is absolutely 100% justified, Russia shouldn’t be invading Ukraine and he shouldn’t be joining up with the war, he should be on the streets protesting.

    2. @Terra Torment Is Ukraine justified in 8 years of bombing Donetsk and Luhansk? Over 10,000 Ukrainians killed by their own people. The DPR and LPR have their own constitutions, and Ukraine has not upheld its side of the bargain giving those areas their freedom. Is it justified?

    3. Sounds like he already pled guilty. That kind of shortens trials up a bit. Don’t you think?

  7. He was ordered to shoot the man? At least he plead guilty but bring in those whom ordered the murder, let them face trial!

  8. in paragraph 347 of the Rules of Land Warfare the following statement: “Individuals of the armed forces will not be punished for these offenses [violations of the customs and laws of war] in case they are committed under the orders or sanction of their government or commanders. The commanders ordering the commission of such acts, or under whose authority they are committed by their troops, may be punished by the belligerent into whose hands they may fall.”

    1. @Jay Kay I could understand a lesser charge. I’m sure there’s plenty of soldiers that don’t want to obey certain orders but there’s also consequences for disobeying a direct order.

    2. They are doing it because they know they will lose and won’t be able to do this later. They want to take out their frustrations on these guys and “imprison” them. I doubt those guys will be alive when Russia comes through. Ukraine just wants to let out frustration and make a spectacle of it

    3. @Dyck Hurtz Cope. Ukraine proved Russian conventional forces are a paper tiger when even a modest but well trained force is given western defense systems.

  9. Ukraine armes civilians, with the millions spent you can’t say he wasn’t a civilian armed, you can see the question of the crime but it may not be what you guys are claiming

  10. If he didn’t do what he was told to do, he will be prosecuted by Russians. War crimes should be charged on those who voluntarily do it by their own wills. Soldiers aren’t supposed to follow orders? The one who ordered him to kill the civilian should be charged.

    1. If every soldier refused to commit war crimes, they would either stop being told to do so or there would be no soldiers. Either way they need to be held responsible.

    2. “Just following orders” has long been an invalidated defense for wrongdoing in war. We deliberately cast the role of a soldier as more than mere automatons. Explicitly so since the end of World War 2.

      I do have sympathy for the position he was in, though. It should be recognized that despite wrongfulness and brutality of his action, there are not many in his spot that would do differently, despite what we tell ourselves. I hope he cooperates with the Ukrainians fully and that helps mitigate his sentence and he’s allowed to rebuild his life at some point.

  11. He’s just part of the edge of the knife, the man holding it must face a trial as well.

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