A court ordered the arrest in absentia of an employee of the Kherson Pension Fund

A court in Mykolaiv has imposed a pretrial restriction in absentia on the former deputy head of the occupation pension fund in Kherson. The woman voluntarily took charge of the unit on the Russian side and is currently in hiding in the temporarily occupied territory.

This is stated in a ruling by the Central District Court of Mykolaiv.

According to the investigation, in August 2022, while in occupied Kherson, a woman named Penkovska voluntarily agreed to take the position of deputy head of the so-called “Kherson City District Pension Fund Administration”—an illegal authority established by the occupiers.

Investigators believe that she was fully aware that the Kherson region is part of Ukraine and that government bodies on its territory can be established only in accordance with Ukrainian law.

According to the investigation, starting in August 2022, Penkovska coordinated the work of the service center—receiving citizens, processing requests, and overseeing the assignment and payment of pensions in Russian rubles. She also managed the unit’s staff and facilitated the implementation of social benefits based on Russian standards in the occupied territory.

Witnesses questioned in the case confirmed that Penkovska personally received people in her office on the second floor of the building at 76-A Komkova Street 76-A in Kherson, gave instructions to her subordinates, and signed documents bearing Russian symbols. One of the witnesses stated that without Penkovska’s approval, issues regarding payments to citizens were not resolved.

On August 25, 2026, the woman was notified that she was suspected of violating Part 5 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—treason—which carries a sentence of five to ten years in prison with confiscation of property.

 The woman failed to appear for questioning by the investigator on three occasions without providing any explanation, so on September 1, 2026, she was placed on the wanted list.

The court determined that the suspect was hiding from the investigation in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region. In light of this, as well as the risks of her influencing witnesses and continuing her unlawful activities, the court ordered her to be held in pretrial detention.

Ірина Глухова