Russian soldier sentenced to life in prison for executing Ukrainian POWs

The Prosecutor General's Office reported the information.

According to their information, Tuzhilov previously held the position of commander of a grenade launcher squad in a motorized rifle company of the 82nd Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 69th Motorized Rifle Division of the Russian armed forces and participated in the renewed invasion of the Kharkiv region.

According to the case materials, in June 2024, Sergey Tuzhilov ordered the killing of a Ukrainian serviceman who had been taken prisoner.

"It was Tuzhilov who proposed the executor, gave detailed instructions, chose the execution site—a checkpoint on the factory premises—and personally oversaw the execution: the shooting of the Ukrainian defender with a shot to the head," said Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

Shortly thereafter, in early July of the same year, two more Ukrainian servicemen were taken into Russian captivity in Vovchansk. They were brought to the territory of the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant, where they were shot after interrogation. 

Later, on September 24, 2024, during the liberation of the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant, special units of the Main Intelligence Directorate captured Russian servicemen, among whom was Tuzhilov. Following this, law enforcement documented the circumstances of the crimes and gathered evidence.

The court found 'Altai' guilty of cruel treatment of prisoners of war combined with premeditated murders committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine as amended before October 24, 2024), and imposed the maximum sentence—life imprisonment.

"The verdict is fair, I really did commit this. I repent for it. I sincerely confessed to this, so I ask not to punish me to the full extent. I don't know how to express this correctly... Not life imprisonment. I want to ask forgiveness from the relatives for what I did," the accused responded to the court's verdict.

• The SBU has gathered an evidence base against another Russian serviceman who participated in the executions of captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers during the renewed invasion of the Kharkiv region by invading Russian forces in 2024.