Two Russian soldiers plead guilty in the second war crimes trial in Ukraine.

Two Russian soldiers pleaded guilty on Thursday to firing on eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region from across the border in Russia, in the second war crimes trial to take place in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.

The soldiers, Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov, acknowledged being part of an artillery unit that shelled the village of Derhachi, destroying a school, from a position near the Russian border city of Belgorod. The men, who served as an artillery driver and a gunner, crossed the border and continued shelling before being captured, prosecutors said. The hearing was live streamed on YouTube.

“I am completely guilty of the crimes of which I am accused,” Mr. Bobikin said from the glass cell in which he and Mr. Ivanov were held in the courtroom. “We fired at Ukraine from Russia.” Read more

@nytimes