Vadim Shishimarin, the first Russian to be indicted for war crimes by Ukraine, apologized today for the killing of a 62yearold unarmed civilian at the start of the invasion.
“I know you cannot forgive me, but I still ask your forgiveness,” the 21yearold soldier told the victim’s wife Kateryna Shelipova at a court hearing in Kyiv.
The apology comes a day after Shishimarin pleaded guilty to war crimes and first degree murder.
The soldier is accused of having shot and killed an unarmed civilian on February 28 in the Sumy region, which was occupied by Russian troops until April.
That day, Shishimarin was traveling with four other soldiers in a car that had been stolen after his convoy was attacked near the village of Chupakhivka.
One of the soldiers then ordered the accused to shoot the civilians riding by on a bicycle so that he would not report them. The victim died at the scene, just a few steps from his home.
In his testimony on Thursday, Shishimarin said he initially refused to shoot the Ukrainian but eventually gave in after a threat from another soldier.
Picture: UOL Art.No
If convicted, the soldier from Irkutsk, Siberia faces a life sentence. Asked about the question on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had “no information” about the case and that the war crimes allegations against Russia were “false”.