Russian general who led Kyiv assault sentenced to life in prison

A Ukrainian court has sentenced Russian Colonel General Alexander Lapin to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of masterminding and executing the assault on Kyiv during the opening weeks of the 2022 invasion.

According to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, the court convicted Lapin on multiple severe counts, including planning, preparing, launching, and waging an aggressive war, as well as encroaching on Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability. Because Lapin is currently in Russia, the verdict was handed down in absentia, News.Az reports, citing RBC-Ukraine.

Investigators established that in February and March of 2022, Lapin, as the former commander of Russia's Central Military District, headed the powerful "Center" military grouping. Rather than acting as a distant bureaucrat, prosecutors proved Lapin actively organized the ground invasion, coordinated front-line tactical units, and issued direct combat orders. Under his command, Russian forces launched multi-pronged offensives from Russian and Belarusian territories into the Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv regions, pushing down the left bank of the Dnipro River with the explicit objective of capturing the capital, seizing state institutions, and toppling the Ukrainian government.

The high-profile ruling lands as Ukraine continues to aggressively pursue legal accountability for the Russian military leadership. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) recently announced war crimes charges against Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, the former head of Russia's Eastern Military District, for ordering deliberate airstrikes and artillery barrages on civilian apartment buildings during the battle for Kyiv.

Meanwhile, other figures wanted by Kyiv remain active globally. General Oleg Makarevich, whom Ukraine accuses of ordering the catastrophic destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam, was recently dispatched to head a rotating military advisory mission in Venezuela, where upwards of 120 Russian personnel are currently training local troops.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada