In the Mykolaiv region, a soldier paid with his salary for passing on the coordinates of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

During wartime, even a few messages sent via a messaging app can be grounds for criminal liability. In the Mykolaiv region, a court sentenced a servicemember who had shared information about the locations of Ukrainian military units via Telegram.

This was reported by Intent, citing the verdict of the Bratsk District Court.

As established by the court, the servicemember was assigned to the 6th Reserve Company of the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center in November 2025. Despite the legal prohibition on disclosing information about the deployment locations of Ukrainian military units, on January 25, 2026, he twice sent data via the Telegram messenger to an unidentified person regarding the areas where military units were concentrated.

According to the case file, he used a mobile phone to send links to Google Maps containing coordinates that made it possible to identify the units’ locations on the ground. The court noted that this information had not been made public by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, or other authorized state agencies.

During the pretrial investigation, a plea agreement was reached between the prosecutor and the defendant. At the court hearing, the servicemember fully admitted his guilt, confirmed the facts of the case, stated that he sincerely repented, and emphasized that he had signed the agreement voluntarily and without any coercion.

The man was sentenced to two years of imprisonment. However, the principal punishment was replaced with a two-year restriction on military service. During this period, 20% of his monthly pay will be deducted and remitted to the state. In addition, the court lifted the seizure of two mobile phones but ordered that they be turned over to the state as physical evidence.

Also in Mykolaiv, a man who had served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine under a contract for more than five years was convicted of treason. He had established contact with a representative of the Russian special services and passed on information about the military unit where he was stationed. 

Анна Бальчінос