KYIV (Reuters – Wednesday saw a Kyiv court begin its war crimes trial of a Russian soldier accused in the February 24th invasion. This case has a significant symbolic significance for Ukraine.

Vadim Shishimarin (a Russian tank commander aged 21) is being held in Ukraine for the murder of a civilian, Chupakhivka, in northeast Ukraine on February 28. The court heard him plead guilty.

Shishimarin can be sentenced for life in prison if found guilty.

Russia has been accused by the Kyiv government of atrocities, brutality and killing civilians in its invasion. The Kyiv government claimed it has already identified more than 10,000 potential war crimes.

Russia denied the targeting of civilians and its involvement in war crimes, accusing Kyiv that it staged them for smear purposes.

According to Ukrainian state prosecutors, the four-man Russian army unit fired on and stole a private car in order to flee from Ukrainian troops after they attacked their column.

They said that the Russian soldiers entered Chupakhivka to see an unarmed man riding his bicycle, and that he was talking on his cell phone.

Shishimarin, a serviceman who had ordered Shishimarin to kill the civilian was fired multiple shots through an open car window using an assault rifle to hit the civilian’s head. On the spot, Shishimarin killed the civilian.