Live updates | Russian soldier sentenced to life in Ukraine

A Ukrainian court has sentenced a 21-year-old Russian soldier to life in prison for killing a Ukrainian civilian, in the first war crimes trial held since Russia’s invasion

KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian court sentenced a 21-year-old Russian soldier to life in prison on Monday for killing a Ukrainian civilian, in the first war crimes trial held since Russia’s invasion.

Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin was accused of shooting a Ukrainian civilian in the head in a village in the northeastern Sumy region in the early days of the war.

He pleaded guilty and testified that he shot the man after being ordered to do so. He told the court that an officer insisted that the Ukrainian man, who was speaking on his cellphone, could pinpoint their location to the Ukrainian forces.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

—‘They ruined everything’: Fleeing the devastation in Ukraine

— Russian offensive turns to key Donbas city, heavy shelling

— ‘A long journey’: Volunteers from Belarus fight for Ukraine

— After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed

— Russia’s claim of Mariupol’s capture fuels concern for POWs

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine — A Mariupol official on Monday sounded the alarm about the growing threat of an epidemic in the ravaged port city captured by the Russians, pointing to unsanitary conditions compounded by the weather.

Mayor advisor Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram that rain drains and sewers make rainwater spread across the city “along with rotting garbage and corpse poison.”

“The threat of an epidemic becomes a reality with each thunderstorm,” Andryushchenko wrote, adding that the Russian forces in the city “continue to ignore sanitary challenges and are only engaged arranging ‘good photos’ depicting fictional ‘life improvements’.”

The official said that Mariupol “desperately needs a new wave of evacuations.”

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The head of the Russia-backed separatist region in eastern Ukraine says that Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal steel mill captured by the Russian forces are being held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and will face “international tribunal” there.

“The plan is to arrange the international tribunal on the territory of the republic as well,” Denis Pushilin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. Pushilin added that “at the moment the charter for the tribunal is being worked out.”

Pushilin said earlier that 2,439 people from Azovstal were in custody, including some foreign nationals, though he did not provide details.

Family members of the steel mill fighters, who came from a variety of military and law enforcement units, have pleaded for them to be given rights as prisoners of war and eventually returned to Ukraine.

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MOSCOW — The Russian military on Monday released footage of de-mining specialists working at the recently overtaken Azostal steel mill in the captured port city of Mariupol.

Russia’s Defense Ministry was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying that over the past two days, more than 100 explosives have been destroyed.

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KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces overnight shelled the Dnipropetrovsk region in southeastern Ukraine, its governor Valentyn Reznichenko said Monday morning.

The Dnipropetrovsk region borders with the Donetsk region, which remains the focus of the Russian offensive in the east.

According to Reznichenko, the Russians used the Uragan or “Hurricane” multiple-rocket launch system and the shelling hit “between the two settlements.” No one was hurt, he added.

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LONDON — British military officials say Russian forces in Ukraine have experienced a death rate similar to that suffered by the Soviet Union during its nine-year war in Afghanistan.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense, in a briefing posted Monday morning, says the high casualty rate during the first three months of the war is due to poor tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility and a command approach that reinforces failure and repeats mistakes.

The ministry says the death toll may weaken support for the war among members of the Russian public, who have been sensitive to losses in past wars.

“As casualties suffered in Ukraine continue to rise they will become more apparent, and public dissatisfaction with the war and a willingness to voice it, may grow,” the ministry said.