A Russian court docket has sentenced two Ukrainian troopers of the Azov Brigade to greater than 20 years in jail for allegedly killing civilians within the metropolis of Mariupol in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, Russia's Investigative Committee introduced on June 9 on Telegram.
Russia has held a variety of sham trials with Ukrainian prisoners of conflict (POWs) over the previous years, focusing specifically on Azov fighters captured throughout the conflict. Azov has been demonized by Russian propaganda for years.
Russian authorities accuse sniper Ruslan Orlov and paramedic Artem Novikov of taking pictures three civilians in Mariupol in April 2022. The Russian court docket sentenced Orlov to 26 years in a strict regime colony, and Novikov to 24 years.
Ukraine has not but commented on the Russian Investigative Committee's assertion.
Russia's months-long siege of Mariupol between February and Might 2022 lowered the port metropolis to a panorama of rubble and killed hundreds.
Within the meantime, the Azovstal Metal Plant in Mariupol grew to become an emblem of Ukrainian resistance on the onset of the all-out conflict, as Ukrainian troopers valiantly defended the plant beneath the Russian siege.
On Might 16, 2022, Azovstal defenders had been ordered to give up to the encircling Russian forces after practically two months of fixed bombardment of the besieged plant.
The evacuation from Azovstal ended on Might 20, 2022, with Ukrainian troopers transferred to a penal colony in Russian-occupied Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, now notorious as the positioning of the mass killing of Azov fighters.
On July 28, an explosion killed 54 Ukrainian prisoners of conflict and injured over 150 on the Olenivka penal colony. Lots of them had been members of Azov.
Whereas lots of of Azov fighters have been launched since 2022, lots of extra stay in captivity.
The Kyiv IndependentMaksym Butkevych
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