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- A Russia-backed court sentenced three men to death for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. The court said the men, two from the U.K. and one from Morocco, were guilty of acting as mercenaries.
- Russian troops shelled Kharkiv and other border towns in Ukraine overnight, bringing fresh violence to a region trying to rebuild and highlighting a problem for Ukraine of how to respond.
- Fighting continued in the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk. Ukrainian troops aided by special forces have launched counterstrikes to prevent Russian forces from taking the city entirely.
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 undertaken by Russian proxy forces aiming to punish non-Ukrainians in the conflict.
A court in the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic, which broke away from Ukraine with Russian arms and financing in 2014, said the three men—two from the U.K., both of whom had lived for years in Ukraine before the conflict, and one from Morocco—were guilty of working as mercenaries.