A Russian soldier has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in Ukraine for executing a Ukrainian serviceman who had surrendered on the battlefield — the first ruling for such a war crime since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

Dmytro Kurashov, the 27-year-old Russian soldier sentenced on Thursday, was convicted for war crimes after killing a Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered in January 2024 in the southern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region. The judgment carries significant symbolic weight as Kyiv says hundreds of its troops have been killed in similar fashion.

According to Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office, Kurashov was part of Russia’s notorious “Storm V” assault units. He executed 41-year-old Vitalii Hodniuk, who had just come out of a dugout with his hands raised. Hodniuk was ordered to kneel and shot on the spot.