Russian pilot sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison for killing civilian.

A court in Chernihiv has sentenced a Russian pilot to 14 years in prison for killing a local civilian last year, the Prosecutor General's Office announced on Oct.

27. The sentencing was carried out in absentia.   A Russian Sukhoi Su-34 jet was shot down over Chernihiv on March 5, 2022, amidst the first weeks of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The navigator was killed, but the pilot survived. A local resident, Vitalii Serhiienko, found the pilot hiding on his property. Despite the fact that Serhiienko was unarmed, the pilot shot him, leaving Serhiienko to die of his injuries.

The pilot was detained by members of the Ukrainian armed forces, and named by Ukraine's Military Intelligence as Aleksandr Krasnoyartsev, a major in the Russian Air Force. Photos posted on social media appeared to show Krasnoyartsev posing with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, leading Ukrainian investigators to believe it was likely that he took part in Russian engagements in Syria. However, Krasnoyartsev was later exchanged in a prisoner swap with five Ukrainian pilots, according to Ukrainian Military Intelligence.

The court in Chernihiv found the pilot guilty of violating the laws and customs of war, and committing intentional murder.  

'I want to go home': Inside a Russian prisoner of war camp in Ukraine Editor's note: The location of the prisoner of the war detention center is undisclosed for security reasons. The Kyiv Independent got vocal recorded agreement from the prisoners of the war to be interviewed and identified in the story.

Undisclosed location in Western Ukraine - Private Alexey Strelk...

News Editor

Elsa Court is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post and has a Master's in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University. Before joining the Kyiv Independent, she worked at the Netherlands Red Cross programme to arrange hosts for Ukrainian refugees and as a freelance writer and editor.

Elsa is originally from the UK and is based in the Netherlands.