KYIV, Ukraine, Nov 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Ukraine said Thursday it had issued its first life jail sentence against a Russian soldier accused of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow's forces of killing POWs after they have surrendered in battle, in what it calls illegal executions and war crimes.

"This is the first verdict in Ukraine's history where an occupier has received such a sentence specifically for the execution of a Defence Forces soldier," Ukraine's SBU Security Service said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Russian soldier Dmitry Kurashov, 27, "executed a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier who had surrendered after running out of ammunition".

The incident took place in the southern Zaporizhzhia region in January 2024, it added.

Kurashov was captured later that day and then put on trial.

As the judge read out the sentence in court on Thursday, the defendant stood in a glass cage in a court room, video published by the national police showed.

Ukraine is seeking to hold not only Russia's political and military leaders but also rank-and-file soldiers responsible for alleged war crimes committed since the February 2022 invasion.

Last week, Kyiv handed over a captured Russian sailor to Vilnius where he will be put on trial for war crimes, including against a Lithuanian citizen.