Yahoo Movies Ukrainian woman confronts the Russian soldier who says he killed her husband
Russian's war on Ukraine has been underway for over 60 days now, with a heartbreaking amount of devastation and loss occurring as a result – something that very sadly, one Ukrainian widow, Kateryna Shelipova, knows all too well. Yesterday, Kateryna bravely stood up in court and asked a 21-year-old Russian soldier, Vadim Shishimarin, why he shot her unarmed husband, Oleksandr Shelipov, in the street, claiming his life.
During the trial, Shelipova asked if Shishimarin had any regret for his actions, to which he replied that he did but that he was not expecting to be forgiven for them. "I understand you won't be able to forgive me," he said in repsonse.
Shelipova also questioned the cause of the gutting war in the first place, "Tell me please, why did you [Russians] come here? To protect us?" she asked, in reference to Vladimir Putin's supposed justification for invading Ukraine.
"Protect us from whom? Did you protect me from my husband, whom you killed?"
To this, the BBC reports, the Russian soldier fell silent and could not offer up an answer.
Shelipova described her husband as her 'protector' and said his loss is felt deeply. She recalled hearing the shots, seeing Shishimarin holding a weapon and seeing her husband on the floor.
"He was dead with a shot in his head. I started screaming very loudly. The loss of my husband is everything for me. He was my protector."
Vadim Shishimarin said he fired at the man after being pressured by the soldiers he was travelling with at the time. "As we were driving, we saw a man. He was talking on the phone. [A fellow soldier] said I would be putting us in danger if I didn't [shoot], [so] I shot him at short range. It killed him."
A witness, Ivan Maltysev, a Russian soldier who surrendered to Ukrainian troops added: "Vadim didn't [shoot initially]. So the soldier, whose name I don't know, turned round in the car and shouted that Vadim had to carry out the order, or we would be informed on. At this point, we were almost alongside the civilian and, under pressure, Vadim fired. He fired three or four rounds."
After being contacted for comment by the BBC, a spokesperson for President Vladimir Putin's said they have "no information" about this case.
It is reported that Ukraine has also identified over 11,000 possible other war crimes committed by Russia.
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