Suddenly she heard the sound of a car outside the yard. Late shot.
Just outside their door, Kateryna’s husband Oleksandr Shelipov was shot dead by a Russian soldier.
The widow Kateryna Shelipova is now left alone in the village, and even though everyday life has returned to the village of Chupakhivka in eastern Ukraine, nothing is the same. The reminder of the horrors of war is on the doorstep.
– I opened the gate carefully, looked out and saw him who was then convicted with an automatic weapon.
First war crime in court
Oleksandr Shelipov’s death during the first days of the invasion led to the first war crime indictment in the war. The 21-year-old soldier Vadim Shishimari was recently sentenced to life in prison for war crimes, after the murder of Oleksandr. The Russian soldier admitted the crime and in the courtroom he asked for forgiveness for Kateryna.
The fatal shooting is part of what Ukraine and many Western countries consider a small part of a much larger picture. Ukraine has accused Russia of violence and killing civilians during the invasion and says it has identified over 10,000 possible war crimes.
Russia has denied that it has shot civilians or that war crimes are being committed.