Russian Army Sergeant Vadim Shishmarin, 21, is seen behind a glass during a court hearing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 13, 2022. The trial of a Russian soldier accused of killing a Ukrainian civilian opened on Friday, the first war crimes trial since Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.
Highlight
- Russian forces suffered heavy losses in a Ukrainian attack that destroyed a pontoon bridge
- They were using the bridge to try to cross a river to the east
- Ukraine’s Airborne Command released photos, video of damaged Russian pontoon bridge
Journalists pack a small courtroom in Kyiv for the trial of a Russian soldier charged with murdering a Ukrainian civilian in the early days of the war—the first of dozens of war crimes cases in his office, Ukraine’s top prosecutor said. is following.
As the trial of a 21-year-old Russian Sgt. While Vadim Shishmarin was operating in the capital, Russian forces suffered heavy losses in a Ukrainian attack that destroyed a pontoon bridge they were using to try to cross a river to the east, Ukrainian and British officers. Said in another sign of Moscow’s struggle to save a war. Got messed up.
Ukraine’s Airborne Command released photos and videos of a damaged Russian pontoon bridge over the Siversky Donets River in Bilohorivka and at least 73 Russian military vehicles destroyed or damaged nearby.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia lost “critical armored maneuvering elements” of at least one battalion tactical group in the attack. A Russian battalion tactical group consists of approximately 1,000 soldiers.
“The crossing of the river in a competitive environment is a highly risky maneuver and there is pressure on Russian commanders to make progress in their operations in eastern Ukraine,” the ministry said in its daily intelligence update.
What are the other developments in this regard?
In other developments, a move by Finland and, potentially, Sweden to join NATO, was put into question when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was “of favorable opinion” towards the idea. Not there”. He accused Sweden and other Scandinavian countries of supporting Kurdish militants and the others consider Turkey to be terrorists.
Erdogan did not say directly that he would stop the two countries from joining NATO. But the military alliance makes its decisions unanimously, meaning each of its 30 member states has a veto over who can join.
The expansion of NATO would be a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who waged war on what he said was thwarting the coalition’s foregone progress. But in the wake of Ukraine’s invasion, Russia along with other countries fear they may be next.
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland Donbass rapidly turning into a grinding war of exodus and Ukraine pleading for more weapons to deter the better-equipped Russians, the EU’s foreign affairs chief announced plans to give Kyiv an addition. 500 million euros ($520 million) to purchase heavy weapons.
Read also: Ukraine prosecutes Russian soldier accused of war crimes
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksey Reznikov welcomed the arrival of heavy weapons on the front lines, but acknowledged there was no quick end to the war.
“We are entering a new, long-term phase of the war,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Very difficult weeks await us. How many will be there? No one can say for sure.”
The battle for the Donbass has turned from village to village, with no great success on either side and little land gain. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Friday that no one can predict how long the war will last, but that his country’s forces are making progress, including withdrawing six Ukrainian towns or villages in the past. Is.
Oleh Zhdanov, an independent military analyst from Ukraine, said fierce fighting was taking place on the Seversky Donets River near the city of Severodonetsk. He said Ukraine’s military retaliated but failed to stop Russia’s progress.
“The fate of a large part of the Ukrainian army is being decided – there are about 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers,” he said.
The Ukrainian military chief for the Luhansk region of the Donbass said on Friday that troops had almost complete control of Rubizan, a city with a population of about 55,000.
In the ruined southern port of Mariupol, Ukrainian fighters hiding in a steel plant faced relentless Russian attacks on the last bastion of resistance in the city. Svyatoslav Palmar, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, said his troops would hold off “as long as they can” despite the shortage of ammunition, food, water and medicine.
And in Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers dressed in white protective suits loaded the bodies of Russian soldiers onto refrigerated train cars on Friday. The bodies were wrapped in white body bags and were buried several layers deep.
Colonel Volodymyr Liamzin, who oversaw the operation, said several hundred bodies were being kept in trains in the capital and several other storage trains elsewhere in the country. He said Ukraine is ready to hand over the bodies to Russia, but has not yet reached an agreement to do so.
In the first war crimes case brought to trial, Shishmirin was sentenced to life imprisonment after four were found guilty of shooting a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in a village in the northeastern Sumy region on February 28. There may be punishment. day in the attack.
The defendant, dressed in a blue and gray hoodie and gray sweatpants, sat in a small glass cage during the proceedings, which lasted about 15 minutes and will resume on Wednesday. The trial will be closely monitored by international observers to ensure that the test is fair.
Shishimarin was asked several questions, including whether he understood his rights and whether he wanted a jury trial. He refused the latter.
His Ukraine-appointed lawyer, Viktor Ovsyannikov, acknowledged that the case against Shishmarin was strong and did not indicate what the soldier’s defense would be.
Shishmarin, a member of a tank unit that was captured by Ukrainian forces, admitted that he shot the civilian in a video posted by Ukraine’s Security Service, saying it ordered him to do so. had gone.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said she was preparing war crimes cases against 41 Russian soldiers for crimes including bombing of civilian structures, killing civilians, rape and looting. It said the two accused of bombing civilian infrastructure and residential buildings are in Ukrainian hands. It was not clear how many suspects would be prosecuted in absentia.
Read also: Russia warns of retaliation after Finland moves towards NATO