Mykolaiv pensioner gets a real term for correspondence with Russians

A pensioner from Mykolaiv was sentenced to 6 years in prison for his correspondence on Telegram with representatives of the Russian special services. The court found him guilty of passing information about the Ukrainian military and their location in the city to the enemy.

This is stated in the verdict of the Korabelnyi District Court in Mykolaiv.

According to the case file, in November 2024 and February 2025, a pensioner with pro-Russian views twice sent information to a representative of the Russian Federation via the Telegram messenger about the movement and location of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Mykolaiv.

The first episode took place on November 4, 2024. Around 10:00 a.m., the accused, being at home, sent detailed messages via Telegram about the military, which were stationed on the territory of the Higher Vocational School No. 7 in Mykolaiv. He described the number of vehicles, the movement of the military and attached two screenshots from Google Maps with the exact locations of the Ukrainian units.

In one of the messages he wrote: "They brought mattresses and other things to the 7th vocational school on Vatutina Street, there is a fuss around the vocational school. There were already soldiers there, but not many. Now they are probably waiting for more." When asked by the interlocutor, "Did you see any Nazis there? Or maybe military vehicles?" the man replied: "There are military vehicles, jeeps, buses. It was last week".

Then the Russian curator demanded the exact coordinates: "Show me on the map where exactly", "The one on the corner...?". The pensioner tried to clarify the address and wrote: "The street rests against the vocational school and ends there... I'm looking for it on the map now".

The second episode, according to the investigation, occurred on February 7, 2025. The man reported to the same telegram user about the movement of three armored vehicles "Kozak" near the swimming pool "Vodoley" in the direction of Halytsynove, and also commented on the situation in the city after another shelling.

During the search, the police seized the man's phones, a system unit and a video recorder used to collect and transmit information.

The court sentenced him to 6 years in prison, leaving him in custody until the verdict enters into force. The equipment was also confiscated and he was ordered to reimburse the state UAH 4457 for the examination.

The court also sentenced another resident of Mykolaiv to 8 years in prison.

According to the investigation, from June to August 2024, using his own Telegram account, he corresponded with the administrator of a pro-Russian channel affiliated with the special services of the aggressor country. In these messages, the man reported possible locations of the Ukrainian military and the TCC.

Ірина Глухова