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.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukrainian troops should surrender to save themselves in Pokrovsk, a transport and supply hub seen as a gateway to bigger nearby cities.

The 7th Rapid Response Corps said that assault and special operations units blocked an effort to cut a supply route between Pokrovsk and nearby Rodynske..

Viktor Orbán is set to meet Donald Trump at the White House on Friday as the Hungarian premier seeks an exemption from US sanctions that would allow his country to continue importing Russian oil.

In the first ruling of its kind, Dmitry Kurashov was found guilty of killing an unarmed Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered.

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier on Thursday to life in prison after finding him guilty of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war, the first time Ukraine has jailed a suspect on such charges.

Russia is betting that its military machine will eventually overwhelm its western neighbor, and that battle is playing out in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.

The drone incursions and the instability on NATO’s eastern flank stem from Russia’s war in Ukraine, now approaching the end of its fourth year. The conflict has become a crucible for drone development, transforming the battlefield into a testing zone for new technology which now has applications elsewhere in Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has imposed sanctions on several opposition-supporting television and media companies his government accuses of being financed by Moscow and a Russian-leaning politician.

In late October, Ukraine carried out a drone attack on the Belgorod Reservoir dam in southwestern Russia. The strike marked a major turning point in the war, forcing people to leave their homes and seriously affecting Russian military activities.