war crimes

Russian Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin waits for the start of a court hearing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. Judges went on to sentence him to life in the first war crimes trial since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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A Russian soldier is sentenced to life in prison in Ukraine's first war crimes trial

8:11am May 23, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Vadim Shishimarin, 21, had pleaded guilty last week to shooting an unarmed Ukrainian man in late February. On Monday, a panel of judges in Kyiv sentenced him to life in prison.

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President Biden, Finland's President Sauli Niinisto and Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson deliver remarks in the Rose Garden at the White House on Thursday.

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (May 19)

4:58pm May 19, 2022

by NPR Staff

A roundup of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian Army Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing an unarmed Ukrainian man during the first days of Russia's invasion in Ukraine. His case is the first war crimes trial since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly three months ago.

World News

Courtroom drama: Ukrainian widow confronts Russian who shot her husband

12:39pm May 19, 2022

The widow asked the Russian soldier what he felt when he killed her husband. "Fear," he said. "I understand you probably won't be able to forgive me. But I ask for your forgiveness."

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Russian army Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, is seen behind a glass during a court hearing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday. He is accused of killing a Ukrainian civilian. The first war crimes trial since Moscow's invasion of its neighbor opened Friday.

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (May 13)

4:53pm May 13, 2022

by NPR Staff

A roundup of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova visits a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13

World News

Ukraine tries its first Russian soldier for alleged war crimes

12:58pm May 11, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova says 21-year-old Vadim Shishimarin shot and killed an unarmed man while fleeing from Ukrainian defense forces. He's in custody and could face life in prison.

Father Oleksandr Yarmolchyk stands inside the demolished nave of his Orthodox church in Peremoha, Ukraine on April 17. He says the Russians bombed his church and held him against his will.

The complex effort to hold Vladimir Putin accountable for war crimes

3:38pm May 03, 2022

by Franco Ordoñez

Ukrainian and international experts believe it will take years, if not decades, to build cases and prosecute people. Ukraine's prosecutor general's office has opened more than 9,000 investigations.

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Blood is seen on a sidewalk in a residential area following shelling in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday.

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What a U.N. team has seen while documenting possible war crimes in Ukraine

2:00pm April 28, 2022

by Nell Clark

"Unfortunately, the longer this conflict goes on, the more violations we're finding," says the head of a U.N. team documenting possible human rights abuses in Ukraine.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova visits a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on April 13, 2022. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor to Bucha visited as the front in Russia's invasion shifted eastward and new alleg

As Ukraine investigates Russian war crimes, the U.S. and EU allies offer assistance

5:47pm April 15, 2022

by Ryan Lucas

The help includes a group of experts that's been looking at possible war crimes since Russia took over Crimea and Donbas in 2014.

A menorah memorial at the entrance of the Drobitsky Yar Holocaust memorial outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, was damaged in Russian shelling last month.

Holocaust museums in 4 countries condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine as war crimes

1:40pm April 12, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

The group of 17 Holocaust museums from the U.S., U.K., Canada and South Africa are supporting an international investigation into whether Russia committed war crimes and genocide in Ukraine.

Body bags with the remains of Kosovo Albanians buried in mass graves in Serbia in 1999 lay in Batajnica near Belgrade in August 2005 prior to being returned to Kosovo.

From Nuremberg to Darfur, history has seen some war criminals brought to trial

9:12am April 10, 2022

by Ron Elving

Responsibility is difficult to prove conclusively in a war zone, and evidence might have to link such acts to national leaders far from the battlefield. But it has happened.