The soldier is accused of shooting dead a cycling 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the Sumy region a few days into the war.
The incident is said to have occurred after the accused’s armored division was attacked and the man together with four other soldiers fled in a stolen car. When they met the cycling Ukrainian, the 21-year-old was ordered to shoot him so as not to risk that their position was revealed, according to the prosecutor.
On Wednesday The soldier admitted the crime in a court in Kyiv during the first trial of war crimes in Ukraine, reports Politico.
“With this trial, we are sending clear signals that every perpetrator, every person who has ordered or assisted in crime in Ukraine, will not escape responsibility,” the country’s chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova said in a statement according to the BBC.
In the hall sat the wife of the slain man.
– I feel very sorry for him. But for such a crime I can not forgive him, she says about the Russian soldier to the BBC.
The trial is coming to continue on Thursday. The 21-year-old is being defended by a Ukrainian lawyer from an organization that provides defendants with free legal aid.
Russia calls the accusations of war crimes in Ukraine lies. According to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the country has not been able to assist the 21-year-old in the trial due to the war.
There have been many reports of Russian war crimes in Ukraine during the invasion. Last week, Ukrainian authorities said they were investigating more than 11,000 alleged crimes. The International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) is also conducting preliminary investigations into possible war crimes on Ukrainian soil.