A captured Russian man was sentenced to life for shooting Ukrainian soldiers – video
Serhiy Tuzhylov (video screenshot)

Sergei Tuzhilov, commander of the grenade launcher unit of the motorized rifle company of the 82nd motorized rifle regiment of the 69th motorized rifle division of the Russian army, call sign "Altai," was sentenced to life imprisonment in Ukraine for the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war. About reported attorney general Ruslan Kravchenko.

According to the investigation, during the second invasion of the Kharkiv region in May 2024, Tuzhilov, along with other occupants, occupied the territory of the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant.

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In June of the same year, an unarmed Ukrainian soldier who had lost his bearings in the combat zone fell into enemy hands and surrendered because he had nothing to defend himself with. After interrogation, the Russians passed the information to the command, which ordered the prisoner to be killed.

As law enforcement officers found out, it was Tuzhilov who suggested the executor, instructed him in detail, chose the place of execution (a checkpoint on the territory of the plant) and personally supervised the murder of the Ukrainian defender with a shot to the head.

In early July 2024, two more Ukrainian soldiers were taken prisoner. They were tied to poles on the plant's territory. After interrogation, the order came again: "Send them to Bandera," Kravchenko said. This time Tuzhylov personally took part in the murder: together with another soldier, they agreed on a plan and each fired a shot into the back of the prisoner's head.

on September 24 of the same year, during the liberation of the plant by special forces of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Tuzhylov and other occupants were taken prisoner. Prosecutors immediately recorded all the circumstances of the crimes and collected evidence.

"In court, he repeated: "I am a military man, I was following orders". But following an obviously criminal order is no excuse. This is a deliberate war crime. A gross violation of the rules of war and all international conventions," Kravchenko emphasized.

The Prosecutor General noted that he personally documented war crimes in the Kyiv region during and after the occupation. And every time he saw a "fanatical and insane desire to kill" both military and civilians. And the order, if there was one, was just a formality, Kravchenko said.

On January 13, the court found Tuzhilov guilty of cruel treatment of prisoners of war, combined with premeditated murder committed by a group of people. He was sentenced to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment.