Russian lieutenant colonel sentenced to life imprisonment for shelling Kherson

A lieutenant colonel of the Russian army was sentenced to life in prison for shelling Kherson, which killed civilians and injured dozens. The court found that the shelling was aimed at civilian objects that had no military significance.

This was reported by the Court Reporter with reference to the court verdict.

The Kherson City Court found Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zharkikh of the Russian Armed Forces guilty in absentia of violating the laws and customs of war and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

In 2022, Zharkikh commanded the 8th Artillery Regiment of the Coastal Defense of the 22nd Army Corps of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, stationed in the occupied Crimea. On December 24 of the same year, while on the left bank of the Kherson region, he ordered to shell the liberated Kherson with Grad systems.

Civilian objects in the city center were hit: medical facilities, residential buildings, a market, a banking institution, grocery stores, a humanitarian aid distribution point and a parking lot. 13 civilians were killed and 60 others were injured. None of the objects were of military importance.

In court, witnesses told about their experiences: one man survived after his car was hit, but a taxi driver who was nearby died; a woman found her mother's body near the Central Department Store; another victim was wounded at the market, and her husband died in the hospital.

In January 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Zharkikh with the Order for Courage. Russian propaganda media presented him as a participant of a "special military operation" who provided artillery support to the troops and acted on the front line from the first days of the war.

At the end of July, the SBU established the involvement of five Russian military commanders in artillery shelling of civilian targets in the liberated part of Kherson region, which killed more than a hundred civilians. All of them have already been notified of being suspected of committing war crimes.

The case of a Russian citizen, an employee of the occupation special service in Kherson region, who is accused of torturing a civilian, was also sent to court. The man was beaten, deprived of food and water, and subjected to interrogation with the use of electric shocks.

Анна Бальчінос