Mykolaiv region: criminal boss with accomplices detained

On November 4, 2025, under the procedural supervision of prosecutors from the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the court found four residents of Mykolaiv guilty. They were sentenced to real terms of imprisonment for hostage-taking, illegal handling of weapons and illegal seizure of a vehicle. The actions were classified under Part 1 of Article 147, Part 1 of Article 263 and Part 3 of Article 289 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The court sentenced one of the defendants, known in criminal circles as 'Apti', to 9 years in prison. His accomplice received 8 years and 6 months, and two others were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison.

According to the investigation, in August 2019, a 49-year-old resident of Mykolaiv, together with three accomplices aged 47, 41 and 25, with the intention of illegally seizing a truck, deprived its driver of his liberty. They brought the man to the territory of an enterprise in Voznesensk and kept him indoors for half a day, demanding that he fulfill their conditions. To increase the pressure, the perpetrators took the victim's brother hostage and threatened him with physical violence, forcing him to agree to hand over the vehicle.

On November 1, 2019, in Mykolaiv, during a joint operation , officers of the Strategic Investigations Department of the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine detained all four. During the search for the criminal mastermind's car, law enforcement officers seized firearms.

The case has been considered by a panel of judges since February 2020, during a period of quarantine restrictions and martial law, which made it difficult to examine written evidence, materials of covert investigative actions and interrogate witnesses.

The verdict can be appealed to the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal within 30 days.

Катерина Глушко