Overview
- Judges in Zaporizhzhia on Nov. 6 found 27-year-old Dmitry Kurashov guilty of shooting dead Ukrainian soldier Vitalii Hodniuk after capture in January 2024.
- Investigators said the victim dropped his weapon, raised his hands to surrender near Pryiutne, was ordered to kneel, and was killed at point-blank range.
- Kurashov, a rifleman in the Russian Storm-V assault unit of the 127th Motorized Rifle Division, was captured later the same day after a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
- Prosecutors said this is Ukraine’s first life sentence imposed on a Russian serviceman for executing a prisoner of war under Article 438 on laws and customs of war.
- Authorities report 322 cases of suspected murders of surrendered Ukrainian servicemen since 2022, with many suspects outside Ukrainian custody complicating prosecutions.