The Ukrainian court started the trial of 21-year-old Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin with a preliminary hearing today. According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, he is accused of “violating the laws and customs of war with willful murder.” This is the first war crimes trial in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.

Russian army unit commander Shishimarin killed a 62-year-old man in Chupakhivka, a town in the Sumy region, 325 kilometers east of the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, while fleeing the Russian army, he and four other colleagues stole a car. As they fled, “They saw an unarmed villager on the roadside riding a bicycle and talking on the phone.”

“The defendant fired several shots into the head of the 62-year-old victim from the open car window with his Kalashnikov rifle,” the Prosecutor’s Office said. “The man died at the scene, just meters from his own home.”

His lawyer, Viktor Ovsyannikov, said he would tell the court later whether the suspect denied the accusation. Head shaved and looking frightened, Shishimarin wore an ordinary blue and gray sweatshirt and was taken by the police to a glass cabinet for the defendants.

On May 4, the Security Service of Ukraine released a video in which the Russian soldier admitted to shooting the old man. The crime was committed on February 28.

The hearing will begin a new session on May 18. The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the Russian army will be detained in the process.

Shishimarin can face prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years, or even life imprisonment.

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine estimates that about 10,000 war crimes were committed in Russia’s war on Ukrainian soil. After the trial, state prosecutor Andriy Synyuk told reporters that “this is the first case today, but there will be many of these cases soon.”

(with Reuters)