The Lugansk People’s Republic Supreme Court has sentenced a Ukrainian serviceman to 15 years in a maximum security prison for throwing a grenade at civilians in the town of Rubezhnoe in the spring of 2022, Russia’s Investigative Committee (SK) reported.
The court passed a guilty verdict on Private Yevgeny Sokolov from Ukrainian army National Guard Unit #3035, on the strength of the evidence gathered by the SK, the report said.
According to the investigator, Sokolov signed a military enlistment contract on March 4, 2022. His unit organized positions in a single-family neighborhood in Rubezhnoye on April 18-19, 2022. On April 21, advancing Russian troops forced the Ukrainian army to retreat chaotically.
As Sokolov was stealing along a lane, he heard a conversation between two women behind the fence. One of them was blaming Ukrainian forces for using the civilian population as a human shield. “Feeling hatred towards the women, and seeking to intimidate them and later on accuse the advancing Russian servicemen of atrocities, Sokolov threw a grenade over the fence in the direction of the voices,” the SK said.
A 60-year-old Ukrainian citizen was wounded in the explosion. Russian servicemen took her to hospital where she received treatment for medium severity injuries. The grenade explosion also damaged a single-family home.
“During preliminary investigation, the victims demanded a 3.5-million-ruble compensation from Sokolov, which the court granted. The defendant pleaded guilty and repented,” the SK said.
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The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014. The peace talks failed to reach tangible results due to Kiev’s position to settle the conflict by force.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation on February 24, 2022 to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression. Prior to that, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance.
The Lugansk People’s Republic acceded to Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referendum.*i*ie
