A 65-year-old Ukrainian teacher has been sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison after Russian authorities accused her of hiding a Ukrainian military officer in occupied Donetsk Oblast in 2022, according to RFE/RL. The officer had escaped capture during Russia's siege of Azovstal and plotted sabotage operations while in hiding.
Moscow’s occupation is characterized by persecution and repression of the local population. The number of Ukrainian civilians held in Russian prisons on fabricated charges remains unknown. Russia has no jurisdiction over the occupied territories and no legal right to persecute Ukrainian citizens living there. Russian court convicts woman over sheltering Azovstal survivorThe Southern District Military Court in Russia's Rostov-on-Don sentenced Valentina Zaiarna, a teacher from the town of Amvrosiivka in Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast, to 12 years in a penal colony. The court also imposed a fine of 500,000 rubles, or around $6,300. She was convicted of participating in a terrorist organization, attempted possession of explosives, and preparing a terrorist act, RFE/RL reports, citing Mediazona.
Zaiarna provided shelter to Ukrainian officer Denys Storozhuk in the summer of 2022. Prosecutors allege the two monitored Yaroslav Anika, a so-called “Donetsk People's Republic” deputy, and ostensibly planned to blow up his car. Zaiarna allegedly received a parcel containing components of an explosive device on Storozhuk’s behalf.
Anika is still alive, and is subject to sanctions imposed by the EU, the UK, Canada, Switzerland, and Japan. Explore further 67% of Crimea’s repression targets one people: Crimean Tatars. The US peace plan would hand them to RussiaThe woman denied any involvement in sabotage or terrorism. She claimed she had no knowledge of the parcel’s contents and said she was unaware that Storozhuk had participated in the defense of Azovstal or engaged in any partisan activities.
Fugitive officer lived in hiding after Mariupol siegeStorozhuk, a lieutenant colonel in Ukraine’s border guard service and head of a special operations unit in Mariupol, avoided capture in May 2022 when Russian forces took control of the city and captured other Azovstal defenders. He contacted Zaiarna after his house in Mariupol burned down and asked for help. She allowed him to stay in her home, where he allegedly remained for nearly a year.
Zaiarna said she had known him before the full-scale invasion as Dima, a border guard she had met while traveling to Mariupol, which was then under Ukrainian control, from the occupied zone to collect her mother’s pension.
Explore further BBC: Ukrainian civilian freed after years in Russian captivity — his story is one of beatings, starvation, and survivalRussian security agents abducted Storozhuk in 2023 and held him in a pre-trial detention center in Donetsk. He was returned to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange in September 2024.
Officer denies targeting lawmaker he knew personallyIn an interview after his release, Storozhuk said he carried out sabotage operations in Russian-occupied territory, including helping to blow up an ammunition depot in Amvrosiivka. However, he denied planning to attack Anika. He described the so-called “DNR” deputy as an old acquaintance and said he had hoped for his assistance, not his death.
Russian authorities sentenced Storozhuk in absentia to 22 years in a high-security penal colony.
Zaiarna told the Russian show trial she knew nothing of his military background, his role in defending Azovstal, or any allegedly illegal activities during his stay. She maintained that she simply gave shelter to a man she had once known. Read also
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