The first Russian soldier to stand trial in Kyiv for war crimes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 has apologized to the widow of the man he killed, according to charges he has admitted. yesterday when pleading guilty.
"I know you won't be able to forgive me, but I ask your forgiveness," Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, 21, said during a short conversation with Katerina Chelipova, the widow of the 62-year-old man, who was unarmed at the time of his death. pushing his bike and talking on the phone.
Both he and another soldier, who have testified this Thursday, have assured that the defendant killed him because he was following orders from another soldier who feared that he would give them away. He first refused, but then fired "three or four times" with his AK-47 machine gun, according to BBC journalist Sarah Rainfold, who is following the session.
According to Rainfold's coverage, the dialogue that the defendant and his victim's widow have engaged in in the room has gone further. After the soldier admitted to regretting what he did, the woman asked, "Please tell me, why did you come? To protect us? From whom? From my husband whom you killed?" The answer is unknown.
"My husband was a tractor driver, we didn't have weapons at home. He was dressed as a civilian," the woman recounted moments before. According to her account, she heard the shots from the patio of her house and when she came out she saw the defendant with the machine gun. Later she saw the lifeless body of her husband.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, Sergeant Shishimarin was in command of a small unit within a tank division when his convoy was attacked. In fleeing from him, he stole a car with four other soldiers. While driving near the village of Choupakhivka, in the Sumi region, they came across the victim.
The 21-year-old Sergeant Shishimarin faces between 10 and 15 years in prison or life in prison if convicted of the charges against him: violation of the laws of war, in combination with premeditated murder. "I'm sorry for him, but I can't forgive him," he had told the widow to the BBC journalist before the session began.
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