KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� A Ukrainian court sentenced a 21-year-old Russian soldier to life in prison on Monday for killing a Ukrainian civilian, in the first war crimes trial since Russia鈥檚 invasion.
Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin was accused of shooting a Ukrainian civilian in the head in a village in the northeastern Sumy region in the early days of the war.
He pleaded guilty and testified that he shot the man after being ordered to do so. He told the court that an officer insisted that the Ukrainian man, who was speaking on his cellphone, could pinpoint their location to the Ukrainian forces.
During the trial, Shishimarin asked the widow of the victim to forgive him.
Shishimarin鈥檚 defense attorney Victor Ovsyanikov argued that his client, a member of a Russian tank unit who was eventually captured, had been unprepared for the 鈥渧iolent military confrontation鈥� and mass casualties that Russian troops encountered when they first invaded Ukraine.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP鈥檚 earlier story follows below.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Russian forces have stepped up shelling in Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland as they press their offensive in the region that is now the focus of fighting in .
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian court is expected to sentence a Russian soldier on Monday in the first war crimes trial of the conflict. The 21-year-old sergeant, who has pleaded guilty to shooting a Ukrainian man in the early days of the war, could get life in prison.
Grinding battles in the Donbas, where Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting town by town, have forced many civilians to flee their homes.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 been able to see the sun for three months. We are almost blind because we were in darkness for three months,鈥� said Rayisa Rybalko, who hid with her family first in their basement and then in a bomb shelter at the local school before fleeing their village of Novomykhailivka. 鈥淭he world should have seen that.鈥�
Her son-in-law Dmytro Khaliapin said heavy artillery pounded the village. 鈥淗ouses are being ruined,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a horror.鈥�
In Tokyo on Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida joined in condemning Moscow鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine. Earlier on his trip to Asia, granting Ukraine $40 billion more in U.S. support for its defense against the Russian attack.
Polish President Andrzej Duda traveled to Kyiv on Sunday to support Ukraine鈥檚 European Union aspirations and addressed Ukraine鈥檚 parliament, receiving a standing ovation when he thanked the lawmakers for letting him speak where 鈥渢he heart of a free, independent and democratic Ukraine beats.鈥�
Poland has become an important ally of Ukraine, welcoming millions of Ukrainian refugees and becoming a gateway for Western humanitarian aid and weapons and a transit point for some foreign fighters who have volunteered to fight Russian forces.
Western support 鈥� both financial and military 鈥� has been key to Ukraine's defense, helping their outgunned and outnumbered forces to repel Russia's attempt to take the capital of Kyiv and fight them to a standstill in other places. In the face of those setbacks, Moscow has outlined more limited goals in Ukraine, with its sights now on trying to expand the territory that Russia-backed separatists have held since 2014.
Ukrainian forces dug in around Sievierodonetsk, the main city under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk province of the Donbas, as Russia intensified efforts to capture it. Gov. Serhiy Haidai accused the Russians of 鈥渟imply intentionally trying to destroy the city ... engaging in a scorched-earth approach.鈥�
Haidai said Sunday that the Russians had occupied several towns and cities in Luhansk after indiscriminate, 24-hour shelling and concentrating forces and weaponry there, bringing in troops from Kharkiv to the northwest, Mariupol to the south, and from inside Russia.
But the Ukrainian military said that Russian forces were unsuccessful in their attack on Oleksandrivka, a village outside of Sievierodonetsk.
Ukraine鈥檚 parliament voted Sunday to extend martial law and mobilize its armed forces for a third time, until Aug. 23. Ukrainian officials have said little since the war began about the extent of their country鈥檚 casualties, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that 50 to 100 Ukrainian fighters were being killed, apparently each day, in the east.
While the east is now the focus of flighting, the conflict is not confined there. Powerful explosions were heard early Monday in Korosten, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Kyiv, the town鈥檚 deputy mayor said. It was the third straight day of apparent attacks in the Zhytomyr District, Ukrainian news agencies reported.
In other developments, Ukraine鈥檚 first lady, Olena Zelenska, gave a rare interview to national broadcaster ICTV alongside her husband and said she has hardly seen him since the war began.
鈥淥ur family, like all Ukrainian families, is now separated,鈥� she said.
Zelenskyy called the interview itself 鈥渁 date on air,鈥� and the couple, who have two children, joked in front of the journalists.
鈥淲e are joking, but we are really waiting, like everyone else, to be reunited, like all families in Ukraine who are separated now, waiting for their relatives and friends who want to be together again,鈥� he said.
___
Becatoros reported from Donetsk. Associated Press journalists Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv and other AP staffers around the world contributed.
___
Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of the war in Ukraine:
Elena Becatoros, Oleksandr Stashevskyi And Ricardo Mazalan, The Associated Press
