Ukraine court jails 2 Russian soldiers for war crimes
Tuesday, 31 May 2022 (17:29 IST)
Two Russian soldiers have been sentenced to 11 years and six months in jail for shelling Ukrainian villages, a court in central Ukraine has ruled.
Russians Alexander Bobykin and Alexander Ivanov pleaded guilty to the war crimes last week.
The two men acknowledged that they had fired at positions in the Kharkiv region from Russia. According to prosecutors, the shelling destroyed an educational facility in Derhachi, but left no casualties.
"The guilt of Bobykin and Ivanov has been proven in full," Judge Evhen Bolybok said.
Bobykin and Ivanov were described as an artillery driver and gunner respectively. They were detained after crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Russia claims to have found over 150 bodies at Azovstal steel plant
Russia's Ministry of Defense said its forces found "152 bodies of dead militants and servicemen of Ukraine's armed forces" underneath the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
Russia asserts that the bodies were stored inside a cooling unit and "four mines" were found underneath them.
"The Russian side plans to hand over the bodies of Ukrainian militants and servicemen found on the territory of the Azovstal plant to representatives in Ukraine," the ministry said.
In late April, remaining Ukranian forces were stuck inside the city's giant Azovstal steelworks and its tunnels during a week long siege. Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers at the plant later surrendered to Russia.
