Russia sentences nearly 200 Ukrainian POWs for ‘terrorism’ after battles near Kursk
Over the past six months, Russia’s Second Western District
Military Court has convicted 184 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were captured
during fighting in Kursk Oblast, according to calculations by independent
Russian outlet Mediazona
on June 25.
All of the Ukrainian soldiers are being charged under the
same article of the Russian Criminal Code — “committing a terrorist act by a
group of persons resulting in serious consequences.”
Since November 2024, Russian courts have received 159 such
cases involving 267 defendants. Mediazona notes that Russia’s Chief Military
Prosecutor’s Office has been announcing new convictions in similar cases almost
daily.
One example is the case of Ukrainian Armed Forces junior
lieutenant Yevhen Hoch. According to Russian investigators, on Oct. 8, 2024,
Hoch allegedly took up a firing position near the village of Olhivka,
obstructed the evacuation of civilians, and “intimidated” locals by carrying
and using a weapon. On that basis, the court found him guilty of “committing a
terrorist act.”
On June 9, a Russian court sentenced two more Ukrainian
servicemen to 24 and 26 years in prison on what Ukraine and human rights groups
have described as fabricated charges of killing civilians in Russian-occupied
parts of Donetsk Oblast.
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