A court has sentenced a former school principal from the Kherson region

Oleg Mikhailov, a 51-year-old resident of the village of Velyka Blagovishchenka in the Kakhovka District, was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for collaborating with the Russian occupiers.

According to “IRS-Pivden,” he headed an illegal education department established by the occupying authorities in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region.

According to the investigation, no later than February 2023, Mikhailov voluntarily agreed to head the occupation education department of the so-called “Gornostaevsky Municipal District.” In this position, he was involved in opening illegal educational institutions in the occupied territory of the Kherson region and publicized his activities in the occupation media.

On July 7, 2026, the Novovorontsov District Court found him guilty under Part 5 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (collaboration). In addition to eight years of imprisonment, the court ordered the confiscation of all his property and prohibited him from holding positions involving organizational, managerial, administrative, or economic functions for ten years after serving his sentence. 

Prior to the full-scale invasion, Oleg Mikhailov had headed a school in Velyka Blahovishchenka since 2011. After the occupation, he assisted the Russian authorities in opening educational institutions according to Russian standards, including a school in the village of Kostiantynivka in the Kakhovka District.

The Gornostaivka Settlement Military Administration reported that, as of September 1, 2023, Mikhailov’s employment was officially suspended after his collaboration with the occupying authorities was confirmed. According to local residents, he also pressured teachers to obtain Russian passports and cooperate with the occupiers.

Earlier, the Kherson City Court found Vladimir Kosov, the former head of the Henichesk Interdistrict Water Management Department, guilty in absentia of aiding an aggressor state. According to the court, during the occupation, he housed Russian military personnel and equipment on the enterprise’s premises, and later headed an institution created by the occupiers and became a deputy in the occupying “Duma.”

Андрій Колісніченко