Izmail border guard chose prison over war

The Izmail City District Court of Odesa Oblast sentenced a border guard who refused to comply with an order to seven years in prison.

As stated in the court' s verdict, in June 2025, the man was ordered to go to Sumy region to perform combat missions.

During the trial, the accused border guard partially pleaded guilty to the charges, referring to the fact that he had all the legal grounds for dismissal from military service, and refused to testify. However, the court found that during the announcement of the order, the man remained silent, and then said that his brother had died. At the same time, he did not say that he intended to resign from military service, but only mentioned the death of his brother and his poor health. After this statement, he was sent to the military medical commission, which determined that the border guard was fit for service. It also turned out that the border guard's brother had indeed died, but not while performing combat missions.

In July 2025, the Izmail City District Court of Odesa Oblast found a border guard inspector who served under contract in Izmail guilty of disobeying orders and sentenced him to five years in prison. In March 2025, the soldier received an order to leave Izmail for the Kursk military base, but did not comply with the order.

He verbally told his commanders that he refused to comply with this order, so his actions were qualified as insubordination, that is, an open refusal to obey an order of a superior, committed under martial law. During the internal investigation, the sergeant explained his refusal by saying that he was not ready to die and leave his two children half-orphaned. There were no further violations of military discipline on the part of the serviceman.

Кирило Бойко