Ordered a Grad strike on the center of Kherson: Russian artillery regiment commander Zharkov заочно received a life sentence

In Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zharkov of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was заочно sentenced to life imprisonment for a missile strike on Kherson, which killed 13 people and wounded 60, UNN reports with reference to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Security Service of Ukraine.

Prosecutors proved in court that in late December 2022, the lieutenant colonel of the Russian armed forces – commander of the 8th Artillery Regiment of the Coastal Defense of the 22nd Army Corps of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, acting on orders from the higher command of the Russian Federation, organized massive shelling of civilian infrastructure in the city center of Kherson 

It is noted that under his command, units of the Russian armed forces launched rocket and high-explosive fragmentation shells at densely populated areas of the regional center. According to the case materials, residential buildings, a hospital, and other social facilities in the city center came under fire.

As a result of his criminal actions, 13 civilians died, and another 60 people were injured. Dozens of residential infrastructure facilities, municipal property, and transport were destroyed 

The Security Service reported that it was about Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zharkikh. Zharkikh's subordinates carried out the massive strike on the frontline city from the left bank of Kherson region.

Subsequently, for the murder of civilians and the destruction of the social infrastructure of the regional center, Putin "honored" the 8th Artillery Regiment of the Russian Federation, awarding it the title of "Guards" 

Following public prosecution by prosecutors of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office, the court found the lieutenant colonel of the Russian Armed Forces guilty of violating the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The war criminal was заочно sentenced to life imprisonment. This is the first verdict in cases concerning the shelling of Kherson.

Addition

SBU employees identified and published data on a representative of the separate unmanned aviation brigade GROM "Kaskad". This brigade launches "Shahed"-type drones on the territory of Ukraine and strikes civilian and humanitarian infrastructure, terrorizing the civilian population.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko reported suspicions to two Russian servicemen for murders and cruel treatment of civilians in Bucha.