MOSCOW: A Moscow court sentenced five Ukrainian soldiers on Wednesday to prison terms of up to 17 years for taking part in Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, finding them guilty of “terrorism”.
President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region they will be treated as “terrorists” in Russian captivity as Moscow ousts Kyiv’s forces from much of the land they had seized.
Kyiv launched the incursion last summer, more than two years into Moscow’s full-scale offensive against Ukraine.
The Second Western Military Court in Moscow said the men were found guilty of “committing a terrorist act in a group resulting in grave consequences”, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
The court sentenced Oleksandr Vedernikov to 17 years in prison, Oleksiy Pinchuk and Yevgen Khatenko to 16 years and Oleksandr Dzyoma and Denys Popov to 15 years.
The court accused the men of firing at Russian servicemen and civilians, “prohibiting their movement and evacuation”.
It said they had “invaded” the Kursk region in August and September 2024 and had set up “observation and firing positions” and mined roads.
Prosecutors published a video of the men, wearing Russian prison uniforms, brought to a court in Moscow during snowfall.
Each Ukrainian was handcuffed and hunched low, accompanied by camouflaged, masked and armed men.
Prosecutors said they would be sent to maximum security penal colonies, which suggests they will not be treated as prisoners of war.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said the men were from the 92nd brigade of the Ukrainian army.
The committee published footage of Popov and Dzyoma in a defendant’s cage, keeping their heads low, before each stood up and admitted guilt.
Last week, Putin visited the Kursk region for the first time during the conflict, wearing military attire.
“We need to see them, before anything else, as terrorists,” Putin said of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region.
The sentences came a day after a phone call between Putin and Donald Trump to discuss a ceasefire.
