A 21-year-old Russian soldier pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing an elderly unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

Sgt. Vadim Shyshimarin, a tank commander, could get life in prison for shooting an unarmed 62-year-old man in the head through an open car window in the village of Chupakhivka in the northeastern Sumy region on Feb. 28, four days into the war.

Standing behind glass in a Kyiv district court, Shyshimarin showed no emotions as he “fully” admitted his guilt through a Russian translator and declined to give testimony.

Shyshimarin was prosecuted under a section of the Ukrainian criminal code that addresses the laws and customs of war.  

Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova previously said her office was preparing war crimes cases against 41 Russian soldiers for offenses that included bombing civilian targets, killing civilians, raping and looting.

It was not immediately clear how many of the suspects are in Ukrainian hands and how many would be tried in absentia.

Prosecutors plan to continue presenting evidence against Shyshimarin following his guilty plea, although the trial is likely to be shorter.

As the inaugural war crimes case in Ukraine, Shyshimarin’s prosecution was being watched closely. Investigators have been collecting evidence of possible war crimes to bring before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Venediktova’s office has said it was also looking into more than 10,700 potential war crimes involving more than 600 suspects, including Russian soldiers and government officials.

With help from foreign experts, prosecutors are investigating allegations that Russian troops violated Ukrainian and international law by killing, torturing and abusing possibly thousands of Ukrainian civilians.

Shyshimarin’s trial opened Friday, when he made a brief court appearance while lawyers and judges discussed procedural matters.

Shyshimarin was among a group of Russian troops who fled Ukrainian forces on Feb. 28, according to Venediktova’s Facebook account. The Russians allegedly fired at a private car and seized the vehicle, then drove to Chupakhivka, a village about 200 miles east of Kyiv.

On the way, the prosecutor-general alleged, the Russian soldiers saw a man walking on the sidewalk and talking on his phone. Shyshimarin was ordered to kill the man so he wouldn’t be able to report them to Ukrainian military authorities. Venediktova did not identify who gave the order.

Shyshimarin fired his Kalashnikov rifle through the open window and hit the victim in the head, Venediktova wrote.

“The man died on the spot just a few dozen meters from his house,” she said.

The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, posted a short video on May 4 of Shyshimarin speaking in front of the camera and briefly describing how he shot the man. The SBU described the video as “one of the first confessions of the enemy invaders.”

“I was ordered to shoot,” Shyshimarin said. “I shot one (round) at him. He falls. And we kept on going.”

Russia is believed to also be preparing war crime trials for Ukrainian soldiers.

With Post wires