Russia said Thursday that it had sentenced two more Ukrainian soldiers who fought in Mariupol to prison, as it continued to try dozens of captive soldiers.
After Russia took control of Mariupol last May, tens of thousands of Ukrainian fighters were taken prisoner, with some being sent to Russia or tried in Moscow-backed courts in occupied east Ukraine.
According to Moscow’s Investigative Committee, Ukrainian soldiers Roman Andrienko and Volodymyr Gorbatyuk were found guilty of shooting at a car carrying civilians in Mariupol, killing one man.
It said a Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, known as the Donetsk People’s Republic by Moscow, sentenced them both to 26 years in prison.
“Andrienko and Gorbatyuk pleaded guilty in full and repented of their actions,” it said.
Their sentences came after the same court sentenced three captured Ukrainian troops to life in prison the day before.
Rights groups and Western countries have chastised Moscow for holding trials of captured Ukrainian soldiers on occupied Ukrainian territory or in Russia itself.
