MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. A court in Donetsk sentenced Ukrainian serviceman to 22 years in prison for shelling a residential building, the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee told TASS.

"The evidence collected by the Russian Investigative Committee has been deemed sufficient by the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic to convict Vyacheslav Simbirsky, a Ukrainian serviceman who served in unit A0989 (56th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) as an assistant grenadier, with the rank of soldier. He has been found guilty of committing crimes under Part 1 of Article 356 (cruel treatment of civilians, using prohibited methods in an armed conflict), Part 2 of Article 105 (murder committed in a dangerous manner due to ideological and political hatred), and Part 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (intentional property damage committed in a dangerous manner)," the statement said.

The department noted that he has been sentenced to 22 years in a high-security prison.

The investigators and the court have established that in March 2022, the unit where Simbirsky served was based in the settlements of Novopetrievka and Georgievka in the Velikonovoselovsky district of the Donetsk People's Republic. On March 5, 2022, while driving through Georgievka in an infantry fighting vehicle, Simbirsky saw an unarmed man in a civilian clothing entering one of private houses. Simbirsky knew that he was not involved in the armed conflict, but due to his strongly negative attitude towards the local population, while being in the position of a gunner-operator, he aimed the automatic cannon at the mentioned house and fired once. The armor-piercing shell penetrated the wall of the house and injured the man, who later died from the injuries. During the preliminary investigation, Simbirsky fully admitted his guilt.