A doctor from Kherson region set up a hospital for the occupants on the basis of his institution

Viktor Kostyan, deputy director of the Beryslav Central District Hospital, was sentenced to ten years in prison for voluntary cooperation with the Russian occupiers.

This is stated in the verdict of the Velyka Oleksandrivka District Court of Kherson Region of March 12, 2026.

The investigation established that no later than July 2022, the accused headed the seized medical institution, re-registering it under Russian law as a 'State Budgetary Healthcare Institution'. In this position, he not only signed official documents of the aggressor, such as financial reports and autobiographies, but also actively implemented employment orders among the staff.

The key evidence in the case was video recordings and testimonies of five former employees of the institution. The recordings show how Viktor Kostyan personally held meetings of the staff, demanding that doctors switch to work according to the rules of the Russian Federation with payment in rubles, threatening to fire them if they refused. In addition, with his help, a military hospital for wounded occupants was deployed on the territory of the civilian hospital, and the head himself publicly thanked for humanitarian aid from the Russian Pskov region. A forensic handwriting examination finally confirmed the authenticity of Kostian's signatures on all the documents of the occupation administration.

Despite the defense's arguments that the defendant could have acted under pressure, referring to his depressed state after his trips to Kherson, the court rejected the version of extreme necessity. The judges emphasized that systematic management activities and public support for the regime are incompatible with coercive behavior. Since the case was considered in absentia and the convict's whereabouts are currently unknown, the sentence includes not only imprisonment, but also full confiscation of property and a ban on holding leadership positions for the next fifteen years.

Катерина Глушко