A Russian soldier has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in Ukraine for executing a Ukrainian serviceman who had surrendered on the battlefield — the first ruling for such a war crime since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

Ukrainian drones have struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Volgograd region for the second time in nearly three months, according to Ukraine’s general staff.

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier on Thursday to life in prison after finding him guilty of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war, the first time Ukraine has jailed a suspect on such charges.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukrainian troops should surrender to save themselves in Pokrovsk, a transport and supply hub seen as a gateway to bigger nearby cities.

T wenty-one months after it began, Vladimir Putin’s assault on the small Donbas city of Pokrovsk (pre-war population 60,000) is nearing its end. A bloody surge in late October made the situation in the city and in Myrhnohrad,

Ukraine's military reportedly struck and damaged Russia's Volgograd oil refinery overnight on Nov. 6, Russian Telegram media channels reported, as explosions rocked several Russian energy sites.

When openly gay soldier Alex Fischuk prepared to defend Ukraine against Russia's forces in February, he feared not only for his own life but also that of his partner, who was also in the army.

Western analysts say the attacks on energy infrastructure so far have had a serious — but not crippling — effect. Ukrainian drones have repeatedly hit 16 major Russian refineries, representing about 38% of the country’s nominal refining capacity, according to a recent review by the Carnegie Endowment, a U.S.-based think tank.