A Russian court has handed down life sentences to two soldiers for the brutal murder of a family of nine in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. This rare case is one of the few instances where Russian soldiers have been held accountable for alleged war crimes during the ongoing conflict.

The Kapkanets family were killed in their home by two Russian soldiers, Anton Sopov, 21, and Stanislav Rau, 28. Among the victims were two children, aged five and nine. The family was celebrating a birthday when they were attacked. Ukrainian officials believe the family was murdered because they refused to give up their home to the Russian troops occupying the area.

The trial of Sopov and Rau was held behind closed doors, with little information available about whether they pleaded guilty. However, they were convicted of murder driven by political, racial, and national hatred. The family’s deaths shocked many, especially as Volnovakha, the town where the incident occurred, had been taken by Russian forces shortly after their full-scale invasion in February 2022.

While Russia denies all war crime allegations, many reports and testimonies document incidents of violence by Russian troops, including the bombing of a theater in Mariupol that sheltered civilians and the killings in Bucha. The UN has also accused Russian forces of widespread torture and killings in occupied Ukrainian territories.

This trial and conviction highlight the rare instance of Russian troops being brought to justice for their actions, but much more is still needed to address the full scale of alleged war crimes in Ukraine.