A youth coach from the Odesa region was convicted of disclosing the location of Ukrainian Armed Forces units

In Chornomorsk, Odesa Oblast, a children’s wrestling coach was tried for disclosing the location of a military unit during a phone conversation.

According to the court’s verdict, he was sentenced to up to 5 years in prison.

According to the prosecution, the coach discovered the location of a military unit in the village of Malodolynske and disclosed it to an acquaintance during a phone call. The court examined recordings of conversations from May 6 and 8, 2025. In these recordings, the speakers used the words “children” and “kids” while discussing the presence of people at a specific location.

The man explained that they were discussing the organization of a summer sports camp for children. He also claimed that his acquaintance was interested in the location because of the possibility of holding training sessions there. However, the court found these explanations illogical and inconsistent with other evidence.

According to the court’s conclusion, the interlocutors were attempting to use code words to distinguish between children and military personnel. The court also established that the coach had provided his acquaintance with information about the location of a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit, which official state bodies had not made public. However, the specific number and name of the military unit were not mentioned in the conversation.

The defendant did not admit guilt. He stated that he did not collect or pass on information about the military, and that the conversation concerned sporting events. According to him, local residents were aware of the military’s presence in the village.

The court found the coach guilty of unauthorized disclosure of information regarding the location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under martial law. 

The coach was detained on July 31, 2025, and released on bail of 266,000 hryvnias on September 9, 2026. The court credited the time spent in custody—from July 31, 2025, to September 9, 2026—toward the sentence, on a day-for-day basis.

Ірина Глухова