Wagner mercenary, Storm militant sentenced for attack on Bakhmut

This is reported by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU). 

According to the SBU, the court sentenced them to 9 and 10 years in prison. One of the convicts is a 23-year-old former prisoner who was serving a sentence in a Tyumen penal colony for rape.

In October 2022, representatives of the Wagner PMC offered him to sign a contract. For this, the recruit was promised RUB 200,000 and the 'repayment' of his criminal record. In early December last year, the mercenary was transferred to the eastern front, where he was captured by Ukrainian defenders a few days later. The court found him guilty under Part 4 of Article 447 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (mercenarism).

Another offender is a resident of the Luhansk region who joined the occupation units of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces before the full-scale invasion. As a sniper and then a scout, he took an active part in hostilities in the areas of Rubizhne, Lysychansk and Popasna. Earlier this year, he underwent special training and was enrolled in the Storm occupation unit, which was formed by the aggressor to break through the positions of the Defense Forces in the area of Bakhmut.

In March, Ukrainian defenders detained a militant during a firefight near a Ukrainian city.