Sentencing of five Berkut officers, SBU strike on military camp in Russia: highlights of October 18

Sentences for Berkut officers

On October 18, the Svyatoshynskyi District Court of Kyiv announced the verdict against five Berkut officers in the case of the shooting of protesters during the Revolution of Dignity on February 20, 2014.

They are accused of murder and other crimes that led to the deaths of 48 people on February 20, 2014, on Instytutska Street in Kyiv.

According to the verdict, the following defendants were found guilty of the mass murder of unarmed citizens, and protesters:

• Oleh Yanishevskyi. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment, with the deprivation of the right to hold positions related to law enforcement. He was also deprived of his special rank of "police lieutenant colonel."
• Pavlo Abroskin and Serhiy Zinchenko. The court sentenced them to 15 years' imprisonment, with the deprivation of the right to hold positions related to law enforcement. They were stripped of their special rank of police sergeant.

Oleh Yanishevskyi was also found guilty of murder and negligent homicide. However, the court released him from punishment under this article due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Oleksandr Marynchenko was found guilty of abuse of power. The court sentenced him to five years' imprisonment and deprived him of the right to engage in law enforcement activities for two years.

Abroskin and Marynchenko were acquitted on a number of charges. The court also acquitted former police officer Serhiy Tamtura of all charges.

The prosecution stated that "there is an undoubted need to appeal this verdict in full".

SBU attack on Russian military camp

Overnight on October 18, the Security Service of Ukraine attacked a Russian military camp with drones near the village of Postoyalye Dvory in Kursk Oblast. As noted, up to 3,000 Russian soldiers and about 80 pieces of military equipment were stationed there, near the Khalino military airfield.

The exact number of Russian losses is currently being clarified, but hromadske's source notes that "the damage was powerful." Almost two dozen drone strikes on the camp were recorded.

Israeli ambassador says 23 Ukrainians killed in Hamas attacks

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky said that the number of Ukrainian citizens killed in Israel has increased to 23. However, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has verified a lower number of victims.

"Ukraine is second only to the United States in terms of the number of foreign citizens killed," Brodsky wrote.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine told us that these are approximate statistics from the Israeli Ministry of the Interior. Ukraine has so far verified that 13 Ukrainians have been killed in Israel and another six are missing.

Russian strikes

At night, Russian troops launched six missile attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhya. The occupiers hit a high-rise building. Five people were killed and five others were injured. The detached housing in the Dnipro district was also hit by a missile attack, killing a woman and wounding four others.

The Russians also hit the village of Druzhelyubivka in Kharkiv Oblast with a guided missile, killing three people: a woman, a man, and their 31-year-old son.

Other news

• The state NPP operator Energoatom is checking the Russian citizenship of the chief engineer of Zaporizhzhya NPP.
• President Joe Biden announced $100 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.
• A Russian Su-25 was destroyed on the Tauride axis in southern Ukraine.
• A Serbian radical party canceled the screening of the film "20 Days in Mariupol" at the Beldocs festival.
• Ukraine no longer recognizes the Moldovan language. The Romanian prime minister called it a "fabrication of Russia".