Head of the War Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said on August 7, 2022, that Ukraine was investigating nearly 26,000 Russian war crimes cases since Russia’s February 24 invasion and had charged 135 individuals.
Source: Head of the War Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, Yuriy Belousov
About 15 defendants have been detained, the remaining 120 remain at large. 13 cases were submitted to the court, and seven verdicts were passed.
For example, in May, 21-year-old captured Russian soldier Vadym Shyshymarin became the first person to be convicted of war crimes in Ukraine since Russia’s February 24 invasion. He was initially sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian, but in late July the sentence was commuted to 15 years in prison.
“Sometimes we are asked why we are persecuting such low-ranking officers. Just because they are physically here. If the generals were here physically and we were able to capture (them), we would definitely prosecute generals,” Belousov said.
See also: Russians have killed more than 1,000 civilians, including 50 children in the Kharkiv region
