A Russian-backed court has sentenced three men to death for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. The court said the men, two from the UK and one from Morocco, were guilty of acting as mercenaries. Russian troops bombed Kharkov and other border towns in Ukraine overnight, bringing new violence to an area it is trying to rebuild and highlighting a problem for Ukraine on how to react. Fighting continued in the city of Sheverodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian troops with the help of special forces launched counterattacks to prevent Russian forces from occupying the entire city.
KYIV, Ukraine — Three foreigners fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Russian-backed troops near Mariupol were sentenced to death Thursday by authorities in a Moscow-backed separatist region of Ukraine in the first move by Russian forces. aimed at punishing non-Ukrainians in non-conflict. A court in the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic, which seceded from Ukraine with Russian arms and funding in 2014, said the three men — two from the UK, who had both lived in Ukraine for years before the conflict and one from Morocco — they were guilty of working as mercenaries.
