Ukraine to hold first war crimes trial as Moscow says Kyiv shelled Russian city

As Moscow accused Kyiv of shelling a Russian city in the war’s latest flashpoint, Ukraine declared it will hold its first war crimes trial over the Russian invasion.

The conflict has wreaked havoc on towns and uprooted millions, and fears of a wider international impact have grown as Russian gas supplies to Europe have been hampered due to a halt in Russian flows through Ukraine.

Since the invasion began on February 24, Kyiv has regularly accused Russian forces of atrocities, and Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday that the first war crimes trial of the conflict would begin.

The prosecutor general’s office said Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian service member, is accused of killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian as he fled with four other soldiers in a stolen car.

“The man died on the spot just a few dozen meters from his home,” said a statement from prosecutor Iryna Venediktova’s office.

If found guilty, Shishimarin may face life in jail.

According to Venediktova’s office, over 10,000 alleged war crimes have been reported, with 622 suspects identified.

Nearly six million citizens have fled the Russian invasion, many of whom have witnessed torture, sexual abuse, and indiscriminate destruction.

On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Council will attend a special session on Ukraine.

Since failing to conquer Kyiv in the initial weeks of the war, Moscow has focused on eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military were bolstered by the recovery of four towns near the Russian border in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, according to Kyiv.

In the Russian city of Belgorod, around 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Kharkiv, authorities said one person was killed and six injured by Ukrainian shelling.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said it was “the most difficult situation” facing the border region since Russia sent its troops into Ukraine 11 weeks ago.

Authorities in Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of launching attacks.

In April, Gladkov said Ukrainian helicopters carried out a strike on a fuel storage facility in Belgorod.

– ‘They come in waves –
In southern Ukraine, the pro-Kremlin authorities in the city of Kherson urged Putin to annex the region.

Kherson was the first major Ukrainian city to fall in the current conflict. It lies north of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of Kherson’s Moscow-installed administration, said there would be a “request to make Kherson region a full subject of the Russian Federation”.

The Kremlin replied it was up to the residents of Kherson to “determine their own fate”.

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said Kherson would be liberated and “the invaders may ask to join even Mars or Jupiter”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has characterised Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion as a “war against tyranny,” but the valiant struggle has come at a high price.

Ukraine’s National Guard announced Wednesday that 561 of its troops had been killed and over 1,700 injured since the invasion began, in a rare release of battle casualty numbers.

Neither the Kyiv nor Moscow military ministries have published official death tolls, but Zelensky estimated that between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in mid-April.

Ukraine’s attempt to retain control of the Russian-speaking Donbas region in the east has become increasingly desperate.

“They come in waves,” volunteer fighter Mykola said of the repeated Russian attempts to push past a strategic river near a rural settlement called Bilogorivka.

– NATO decision by Finland, Sweden –
Much of the world has moved to isolate Putin as punishment for the invasion.

Russia “is today the most direct threat to the world order with the barbaric war against Ukraine,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Tokyo Thursday after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kishida, whose administration backed the severe anti-Moscow sanctions, added: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine affects not only Europe, but the entire international order, including Asia. This cannot be allowed to continue.”

Russia has been subjected to a barrage of punitive economic sanctions, which have begun to deplete its foreign exchange reserves.

Zelensky said on Wednesday that he had discussed increasing penalties on Moscow with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Step by step we are doing everything to make the aggressor feel the biggest pain from the aggression,” the Ukrainian leader said.

But ramping up the embargoes has not been straightforward, with concern among some nations in Europe that rely on Russian gas.

Kyiv said Wednesday that Russia had halted gas supplies through a key transit hub in the east.

The stoppage caused supplies to plunge by 25 percent in Germany, which is dependent on Russia for its energy and has rejected an immediate full embargo on Russian gas.

The invasion of Ukraine has also prompted Sweden and Finland to consider NATO membership.

Finland was due to reveal its position on joining the bloc on Thursday.

– A mother mourns –

On Wednesday, a Ukrainian commander in Mariupol made a direct appeal to Elon Musk, asking the world’s richest man to act on behalf of citizens trapped in the southern port city by Russian soldiers.

Mariupol, where Ukrainians have maintained a pocket of resistance at a steel mill, has been ravaged by the war.

Iryna Yegorchenko, 43, found out on Wednesday that her military son Artem had perished while defending the Azovstal factory.

“I suddenly felt relieved,” she told AFP.

The 22-year-old was crushed during the collapse of a structure and “quickly went to God”, said Yegorchenko, who lives in Kyiv.

“He decided to defend his homeland, his people… I have nothing to be ashamed of as a mother.”