Russian soldier sentenced to life in prison in Ukraine's first war crimes trial

Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was convicted Monday of shooting and killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov on February 28 — just four days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion — in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka. Shishimarin pleaded guilty, but said he had been acting on orders, and apologized to Shelipov’s widow…

Shishimarin’s defense lawyer said he had fired only after refusing the order to shoot Shelipov two times, and that he had done so out of fear for his own safety.

Kateryna Shelipova, Oleksandr Shelipov’s widow, confronted Shishimarin during the trial, CBS partner network BBC News reported.

“Tell me please, why did you [Russians] come here? To ‘protect’ us?” she said, mocking Putin’s own justification for the war. “Protect us from whom? Did you protect me from my husband, whom you killed?”