Russian soldier sentenced to life in jail in unprecedented Ukrainian trial

A Russian soldier, Dmitry Kurashov, has been sentenced to life in a Ukrainian jail for the deliberate killing of Ukrainian POW Vitalii Hodniuk, who surrendered in 2024. The court found Kurashov guilty of shooting Hodniuk despite his surrender, as part of his unit's assault on a Ukrainian position in Zaporizhzhia. Kurashov initially pleaded guilty but later retracted, claiming he was following orders not to take prisoners, but his account was refuted by members of his unit. This unprecedented trial sheds light on the recruitment of convicts by the Russian military to fight in Ukraine, where battlefield executions have been recorded by Ukrainian intelligence.