Law enforcers launch investigation against Kherson school director

The court allowed a special investigation into the director of a lyceum that operated during the occupation of Kherson. It is the former head of the Service for Children of the Velyko Oleksandrivsk District State Administration of the Kherson Region, Lyudmyla Ishatenko.

This is evidenced by the decision of the Central District Court of Mykolaiv.

The court authorized a special pre-trial investigation against a Ukrainian citizen suspected of educational collaboration and cooperation with the occupation authorities. This is a woman who voluntarily took the position of "director" of an illegally established educational institution in Kherson and transferred it to the Russian educational program. This is Higher Vocational School No. 2.

According to the investigation, the suspect organized a gathering of teachers and technical staff, publicly introduced herself as the "new director" and called for employment at the "State Budgetary Educational Institution of Vocational Education of Kherson Region". She offered work according to Russian educational standards, with salaries in rubles and "better social guarantees." Anyone who refused to cooperate with the occupiers and their authorities was asked to leave the premises.

The suspect did not limit herself to agitation. She introduced innovations in the educational institution: she dismantled Ukrainian symbols, printed posters and forms of a "new model".

To ensure the operation of the school, the suspect actively sought teachers and technical staff, offered to write employment applications, conducted interviews and insisted on cooperation with the occupation authorities. Employees were paid in rubles, and they were forced to sign documents on receipt of funds.

In addition, the suspect organized trips of students to the territory of Crimea under the pretext of "rehabilitation" and ensured the transfer of the material and technical base of the institution to the occupation administration. She changed the name of the school, replaced Ukrainian symbols with Russian ones, and replaced Ukrainian textbooks with Russian publications.

At the beginning of the "new 2022/2023 school year," the suspect greeted the audience, raised the flag of the Russian Federation and signaled the anthem of the aggressor state.

In early January 2026, the woman was served a notice of suspicion under Articles 111-1 and 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. She was put on the wanted list for hiding from the investigation and failing to respond to calls.

The court granted permission for a special pre-trial investigation to establish all the circumstances of the suspect's activities and bring her to criminal responsibility for assisting the occupation administration, forced agitation of staff, changing the educational program and material support of the educational institution.

According to the Evocation.info database, it is Lyudmyla Ishatenko, who was born on December 21, 1971 in Kherson. She was the head of the Kherson Higher Vocational School of Restaurant Business.

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Ishatenko actively demonstrated a pro-Russian position and in March of the same year began to cooperate with the occupation administration of Kherson. She assisted Russian troops and the interim authorities, urging local residents not to resist and to help the occupiers with accommodation and food.

According to the Opendatabot system, Lyudmyla Ishatenko served as the head of the Service for Children of the Velyko Oleksandrivsk District State Administration of Kherson Oblast from 2016 to 2020. During this period, her total income amounted to over UAH 429 thousand.

Also in February, the Security Service of Ukraine detained a school director from Yalta in Kyiv. She is suspected of collaboration for teaching Ukrainian schoolchildren according to Russian educational standards.

Анна Бальчінос