Life Sentence Issued in First Verdict Over Kherson Shelling
Russian officer found guilty of organising massive rocket strike that resulted in mass casualties.
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Life Sentence Issued in First Verdict Over Kherson Shelling
Russian officer found guilty of organising massive rocket strike that resulted in mass casualties.
A 39-year-old Russian lieutenant colonel has been sentenced to life in prison for commanding a 2022 shelling attack on Kherson city centre that killed 13 civilians and wounded 60.
Dmitry Zharkikh was convicted in absentia on August 1 in the first verdict a Ukrainian court has issued concerning the shelling of Kherson by Russian occupation forces.
Zharkikh, a native of Feodosia in Crimea and currently a resident of Stavropol, Russia, is a lieutenant colonel commanding the 8th Coastal Defence Artillery Regiment of the 22nd Army Corps, part of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet. In late 2022, he was awarded the Order of Courage by Russian President Vladimir Putin for his service in the Kherson region.
The investigation established that Zharkikh was directly involved in the December 2022 attack and carried out orders from high command to organise massive rocket attacks on civilian infrastructure in the city centre. The sites were not military targets and the large-scale rocket strikes were indiscriminate, which is a violation of international law.
According to the investigation, the attacks were carried out to terrorize the population, create unliveable conditions for civilians, generate social tension and force Ukraine's leadership into making territorial and political concessions favourable to the Russian Federation.
Investigators say the order, issued by Zharkikh, was executed by servicemen of the 8th Regiment. They were stationed in the areas of Nova Zburyivka, Mali Kopani and Pidlisne, near the village of Nechaieve in the Oleshky community on the occupied left bank of the Kherson region.
“On December 24 2022, between 10:39 and 10:40 am, they launched seven rocket strikes [on central Kherson],” the court verdict states. “Impacts were confirmed on the roof of a medical facility at 20 Yaroslava Mudroho Street, the road near residential buildings at 32 and 38 Rishelievska Street, a shopping pavilion at the central market, a multi-story apartment building at 40 Potiomkinska Street, a bank roof, the road near the Silpo supermarket in the central department store, the roof of a four-story medical facility and other sites.”
Russian forces shelled the city centre again later that day around 4pm, leaving 13 people dead and 60 wounded.
Dozens of survivors and witnesses provided testimony in court, detailing their experiences. According to one man, he was on Rishelievska Street at approximately 10:40 am on December 24 when the shelling began. His car was destroyed by fire and he was wounded. It took him four months, three surgical procedures and two months of rehabilitation to recover.
The witness said he had heard the characteristic sound of a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) before the shelling. Getting out of his car, he saw damage to the asphalt, a shell casing and the bodies of victims, including a taxi driver killed in a nearby car.
“On December 24 2022, I was at home,” another witness recalled in a statement included in the court verdict. “I received a call and was asked to go to the central department store. There, I saw my mother’s body. She had been working near the store’s entrance that day and was killed by a shrapnel wound to the head.”
Evidence from the Hrim tactical group shows that on the day of the attack, there were no legitimate military targets within the strike zone in Kherson. According to intelligence reports, the shelling was most likely carried out by Zharkikh’s subordinates under the command of the accused and their regiment was equipped with BM-21 Grad MLRS.
On the same day, Russian forces also shelled other districts of Kherson from positions in Hola Prystan, Kardashynka, Oleshky and Solontsi, located on the occupied left bank of the Kherson region.
The case is further supported by forensic reports on the weaponry used, crime scene examination reports and dozens of findings from medical examiners.
The court found that the occupiers’ actions were in breach of international humanitarian law and represent a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions.
During debates, the prosecutor sought a life sentence for the defendant, while Zharkikh’s defence counsel from the Free Legal Aid Centre requested an acquittal, citing insufficient evidence.
The court convicted Dmitry Zharkikh in absentia of a war crime under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Zharkikh was also ordered to pay nearly UAH 93,000 to cover expert fees.
The verdict is not yet final and can be appealed within 30 days. If the sentence is upheld, it will begin on the day of Zharkikh’s actual arrest.
Zharkikh, whose family comes from the Kherson region, remains wanted and is also set to face another court verdict.
A trial is scheduled for September 17, 2025, for Zharkikh, Oleg Makarevich, commander of the Russian “Dnepr” group, and Lieutenant General Arkady Marzoev. They are accused of the mass killing of civilians in Kherson on 3 May 2023. The shelling, which included rocket artillery and high-explosive fragmentation rounds, killed 24 people and injured 51.
The targets of the attack by included the Epitsentr shopping centre, the railway station and an adjacent OKKO gas station, as well as an ATB supermarket in Kherson’s Dnipro district and other residential and non-residential buildings.
To carry out Makarevich’s criminal order, Russian forces used BM-21 Grad MLRS, 2A65 Msta-B howitzers and a 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzer. They also employed a 2A36 Giatsint-B towed gun, a 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled gun, rockets and high-explosive fragmentation shells. The shelling came from the western outskirts of the village of Sahy, the southern part of Oleshky, the eastern outskirts of Pidlisne and the areas around the villages of Solontsi, Velyka Kardashynka, Radensk and Chelburda on the left bank of the Kherson region.
Ukrainian investigators have identified Marzoev as the commander responsible for the Russian occupation of the Kherson region, which led to mass killings, numerous deaths and injuries, and the destruction of extensive civilian property. From 2021 to 2023, Marzoev commanded the 22nd Army Corps of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Coastal Troops.
