A Russian soldier facing the first war crimes trial since the invasion of Ukraine asked for his victim’s widow for forgiveness on Thursday (May 19).

Widower Kateryna Shelipova told the court that she would not object if Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin is exchanged as part of a prisoner swap with those Ukrainian fighters captured as they defended the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

Video shows action from the trial on Thursday.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Shishimarin pleaded guilty to shooting Ukrainian man Oleksandr Shelipov in the head in the northeastern Sumy region on February 28.

The widow of a man who was shot by the invader Shishimarin agrees to the exchange of the invader
Violetta Orlova
In court, she stated that she would not mind if he was exchanged for the military from Azovstal.

The widow of a resident of the Sumy region killed by the Russian occupier is not against his exchange for the defenders of Mariupol.

She made such a statement during a meeting in Kyiv, where the trial of the Russian military Vadim Shishimarin, who confessed to the murder of a civilian, continues.At the meeting, the woman also told when her husband was killed.

The widow noted that she demanded that the occupier be sentenced to life imprisonment, but she would not mind if Shishimarin was exchanged for defenders from Azovstal.

“But if they change him, including for our Mariupol defenders, guys, I will not be against it, I will be for it,” the woman said during the trial.

Recall, Shishimarin threatens from 10 years to life imprisonment.

The investigation established that on February 28, in the village of Chupakhivka, Sumy region, he saw an unarmed resident walking with a bicycle along the roadside and talking on the phone and fired several aimed shots at the head of the 62-year-old victim from a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The man died on the spot just a few tens of meters from his own home.
Shishimarin became the first Russian military man to appear before a Ukrainian court.On May 4, a Russian military man told the SBU how he personally shot civilians in the Sumy region. They noted that this is one of the first confessions of the Russian invaders, which was obtained in the course of a long and painstaking work of the Ukrainian special service.

On May 11, an indictment was submitted to the court against a Russian military officer - the commander of the department of military unit 32010 "4th Tank Kantemirovskaya Division of the Moscow Region", who killed a civilian in the Sumy region.

On May 18, at a court hearing, Shishimarin pleaded guilty to shooting an unarmed civilian in the Sumy region. He also stated that he was ready to testify in the case.