The Military Court in Rostov sentenced 15 Ukrainian POWs from the Aidar Battalion to 15–21 years in a maximum-security colony; two medics were returned to Ukraine.
They were sentenced to terms ranging from 15 to 21 years in a maximum-security colony, reports Mediazona.
Eighteen people were involved in this case—two female medics, Liliya Prutyan and Maryna Mishchenko, have already been returned to Ukraine as part of an exchange, and the case of one of the drivers has been separated into a different proceeding; his fate is unknown.
“None of them were accused of war crimes; the criminal court only considered it a crime that they served in the Ukrainian army—not only as soldiers but also as medics,” the publication writes.
The court handed down the following sentences:
- Vitaliy Gruzinov, Roman Nedostup, and Serhiy Kalinchenko – 21 years in a maximum-security colony
- Mykola Chupryna, Taras Radchenko, Semen Zabayrachnyi, Serhiy Nikityuk, Oleksandr Taranets, and Vladyslav Yermolinskyi – 20 years
- Volodymyr Makarenko and Ihor Haiokha – 18 years
- Andriy Sholik, Vitaliy Krokhalev, and Vyacheslav Baidyuk – 16 years
- Dmytro Fedchenko – 15 years
During the trial, the Ukrainian prisoners of war reported that investigators had tortured them while in captivity in the territory of the self-proclaimed “DPR.” In October 2024, the court completely closed the hearings to the public and journalists, citing the “wide public resonance” and “threats to the participants in the case.”
