Kharkiv court arrests Russian soldier accused of killing five soldiers and a fisherman, The Insider finds he had four prior convictions

A court in Kharkiv has ordered that Russian citizen Leonid Ryzhikov be held in pretrial detention following allegations that he killed six people, five Ukrainian soldiers and a civilian, in the Kharkiv region. According to Suspilne, Ryzhikov has at least four prior convictions. Ryzhikov, a 36-year-old native of St. Petersburg, was identified by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on the evening of October 15, 2022.

In a video released by the Kharkiv prosecutor's office, Ryzhikov admitted to shooting a civilian who was fishing and killing five Ukrainian service members on October 13. Ryzhikov had fled Ukrainian shelling and spent a week hiding in local forests before his arrest. The SBU reports that Ryzhikov used the call sign "Yula" in the Russian military and was mobilized from prison in late July 2022.

The Insider discovered that Ryzhikov had a history of criminal activity dating back to 2008, when he was prosecuted twice for drug charges. In 2008, he was charged with possession of narcotics on an especially large scale and later with large-scale drug distribution, receiving a suspended sentence of 1.5 years and a 4.5-year prison term, respectively.

In 2013, Ryzhikov was arrested for causing serious bodily harm, attacking a man with pepper spray and a knife, for which he received a 3-year prison sentence. After his release, he was arrested again in 2015, 2019, and 2020 for various crimes, including theft, larceny, and assault. In December 2019, he was sentenced to eight years in a high-security penal colony.

Ryzhikov was likely recruited for military service from Penal Colony No. 7 in St. Petersburg, also known as "Yablonevka." He is currently facing life imprisonment.