The SBU detained two convicted Russian collaborators who had been in hiding following the liberation of Kherson

A former head of a division of the occupation railway was detained at the border as he was returning from an EU country. In Kherson, a taxi driver was also detained who, during the occupation, had guarded a prison where members of the resistance movement were held.

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, both men collaborated with the occupiers in Kherson. After the city was liberated, they attempted to evade responsibility. In 2025 and 2026, a court sentenced them in absentia to prison terms, after which they were placed on the wanted list.

Became a Manager for the Occupiers’ Railroad

The first detainee is a local resident. When the Russians captured Kherson, he voluntarily went to work for the “branch of the Russian railways” they had established. There, he was appointed head of the “signaling and communications division.”

According to the SBU, the man helped organize rail transport for Russian troops in the south. He recruited staff and oversaw the repair of damaged fiber-optic lines and communications equipment.

When Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson, the collaborator moved to the occupied part of the region across the Dnipro River. There, he joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and ran for office in the local occupation authorities.

He did not receive a “deputy’s mandate” and left for one of the European Union countries. When the man attempted to return to Ukraine, he was detained right at the state border.

He guarded a prison holding captives

A second collaborator was detained in Kherson. He is a local taxi driver. During the occupation, he got a job with the “Russian Federal Penitentiary Service.” There, he was appointed “junior inspector of the security department” and given the “rank of private in the internal service.”

Following orders from the occupiers, he guarded the cells in the prison they had seized. The Russians held members of the resistance movement there.

Later, the collaborator changed his place of residence and went into hiding from law enforcement. SBU officers determined where he was living and detained him at that address.

What sentences were handed down

One of the men was sentenced to 13 years in prison, the other to 12 years. In both cases, the court ordered the confiscation of their property.

Their actions were classified under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

•  Part 7 of Article 111-1 (collaboration);
•  Part 1 of Article 111-2 (aiding an aggressor state).

Both convicts have now been transferred to their places of imprisonment.

Ірина Глухова