Crimean prisoner became a Russian shooter near Bakhmut and ended up in the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

The Security Service of Ukraine jointly with the military counterintelligence collected evidence against a 43-year-old resident of Feodosia who voluntarily joined the occupation forces.

This was reported by the SBU in Mykolaiv region.

The investigation established that in July 2025, the man signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense on his own initiative. The main motivation of the traitor was the desire to receive "blood money" - the promised financial support from the aggressor. He was enlisted as a private rifleman in the 1307th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment.

In August-September of the same year, the newly minted occupier took part in hostilities against the Defense Forces in Donetsk region. However, his "career" did not last long: during one of the September clashes, as a result of a failed enemy attack, the suspect was captured by Ukrainian defenders.

The SBU has now served him with a notice of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code: high treason and collaboration. For exchanging his conscience for money and weapons, the offender faces life imprisonment.

We would like to remind you that in Crimea, people are also persecuted for their religion: the occupation court in Kerch sentenced local Vitaliy Burik to 6 years in prison in a general regime penal colony. The reason for such a harsh sentence was the man's religious activities, which the Russian justice qualified as 'organizing the activities of an extremist organization'.

The man, who was born in Svatove and devoted more than 30 years of his life to the religious community , met his wife, Halyna, in this community, with whom he now raises two daughters, one of whom has a disability. Vitaliy's persecution began in October 2024, when security forces detained him right at his workplace and searched his apartment in front of his young child.

Катерина Глушко