A Ukrainian court has sentenced two Russian servicemen to 11 years and six months in prison.

This is reported by the source “Graty.”

The Kotelevsky District Court of Poltava Region found Russian servicemen Aleksandr Bobykin and Aleksandr Ivanov guilty of violating the laws and customs of war.

They were sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison for shelling the village Kozacha Lopan and the Veterynarne village (Kharkiv region) with the Grad multiple rocket launcher.

According to the investigation, on the first day of the full-scale invasion, Bobykin and Ivanov fired at the Kharkiv region from Russian and later Ukrainian territory with Grad multiple rocket launchers, destroying civilian infrastructure, residential buildings and lyceum.

The defendants pleaded guilty, so the court did not examine the evidence.

The court considered the defendants’ sincere full confession as a mitigating circumstance, but rejected the defense counsel’s argument that they had committed the crime under duress.

The court also included the pre-trial detention of both defendants from April 6 as serving their sentences.

The verdict has not entered into force, it can be appealed. The court left both defendants in custody.

Interfax-Ukraine writes that on February 24, two Russian servicemen, one of which was a loading driver and the other a BM-21 Grad gunner, fired artillery at Kharkiv region from the territory of Belgorod region of the Russian Federation.

Fulfilling a criminal order, the military personnel of the RF Armed Forces destroyed critical infrastructure facilities and residential buildings in the village of Kozacha Lopan. After that, the military personnel of the RF Armed Forces crossed the border of Ukraine and continued shelling the Kharkiv region.

After the defeat of the Russian military column, two invaders were captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of Kharkiv region. They were declared suspected of violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1, Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).