The first war crimes trial in Ukraine begins | First Thing

Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old Russian commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, is charged with murdering a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian

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Good morning.

For the first time since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, a court in Kyiv will hear a war crime trial - of a Russian soldier accused of murdering a 62-year-old civilian.

Two other cases are likely to be heard in court within days, including an in-absentia trial of Mikhail Romanov, who is accused of breaking into a house in the Brovarsky region near Kyiv, murdering a man and then repeatedly raping his wife in front of her child.

The trial comes as the Kremlin bristled at Finland seeking to join Nato, with Sweden moving to follow suit.

In the US, $40bn in aid for Ukraine has been held up because of one libertarian lawmaker, Rand Paul.