Mykolaiv Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Spying on the Ukrainian Military

The Zavodskyi District Court of Mykolaiv has sentenced a local resident to 10 years in prison for illegally transmitting data on the location of the Ukrainian military during martial law.

According to Court Reporter, citing a February 12 verdict, in the fall of 2023, a man with pro-Russian views established contact via Telegram with a Russian citizen.

Fulfilling her request, he began to collect information about the locations of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The traitor passed on the coordinates of a military hospital, a faculty for training reserve officers, a dormitory, and other data.

The man sent the information to the enemy five times on October 22 and 25. He was detained on November 2. During the search, law enforcement officers found correspondence in his phone, where the accused reported on the locations of shelling in Mykolaiv and called for their repetition.

The court found that the man had no previous convictions, was not married and did not work officially. At the trial, he did not deny the fact of communication, but insisted that the conversations were about everyday topics and began only on October 29. He also argued that the coordinates could have been planted during his detention.

However, the court rejected the defendant's arguments, as the correspondence clearly showed his intention to help the enemy, and found the man guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Cases of treason have been repeated in Mykolaiv region. Recently, the Security Service of Ukraine, together with the National Police, detained Russian intelligence agents in the city who were preparing a terrorist attack on February 14 this year on the instructions of the Kremlin. The attack killed a woman and three soldiers, and injured seven other people with varying degrees of severity.

In addition, the head of one of the territorial communities will be tried in Mykolaiv region for justifying Russia' s armed aggression against Ukraine. For spreading anti-Ukrainian narratives, the official faces up to 8 years in prison under the article on justifying Russian aggression committed by an official.

Also under investigation is former MP Vadym Novynskyi, owner of the Mykolaiv Shipyard SMG plant. He is suspected of spreading pro-Russian ideology and helping to preserve the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Анна Бальчінос