Russa sentences Ukrainian mother of four to 14 years on ‘treason’ charges for supporting Ukraine

A Russian appeal court has upheld the 14-year sentence issued by an illegal and unrecognized ‘court’ against Oksana Hladkykh, a 48-year-old mother of four from Dobrivka in Zaporizhzhia oblast.   The Ukrainian had never concealed her opposition to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and it is, unfortunately, possible that her former husband was instrumental in setting the Russians on to her.

Oksana Hladkykh has an adult daughter, Oleksandra, from her first marriage, and three children, Sonya, aged 15, Vova (12) and Zlata (11) from her second.  According to Oleksandra, her stepfather drank and beat his wife, who took the children and moved from Dobrivka to the nearby urban settlement Pryazovske in Zaporizhzhia oblast. 

The area came under Russian occupation almost immediately. According to Oleksandra, her mother was devastated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and openly told the Russian military posted close to their home to “leave our country”.  

On 15 January 2023, Oksana’s photo and date of birth were posted on a scurrilous Telegram channel aimed at hunting down so-called ‘zhduny’, a term in Russian meaning “those waiting” and used pejoratively about Ukrainians awaiting liberation from Russian occupation. The post claimed that Hladkykh “insults and threatens” people who support the Russian Federation, and posts photos of people on the Telegram channel Pryazovske is Ukraine, saying that the faces of traitors should be known.

One of those traitors would appear to have been Oksana’s ex-husband and back in June 2024, neighbours (on condition of anonymity) suggested that this individual might have ‘reported’ Oksana to the Russians. 

Oleksandra says that her mother was worried by the above post and they did discuss trying to leave.  Oksana, however, said that she had lived there for a long time, had friends there, and would find it hard to move.

The Russians came for Hladkykh on 24 November 2023.  The children were not allowed inside, from where they heard screams.  Their mother was taken away, with the Russians initially claiming that this was for four days.

That was a lie, with it soon becoming clear that Hladkykh was facing charges of ‘state treason’.  The Russians could bring this absurd charge against a Ukrainian because they are forcing residents of occupied territory to take Russian citizenship.  Hladkykh did so because of the children and has since told volunteers that she regrets this.  In fact, Russia has abducted a huge number of Ukrainian civilians and, where it does admit to their imprisonment, the basic allegations and final sentences are very similar, whether the person is accused of ‘treason’ because of a Russian passport, or ‘just’ of spying.  It is invariably claimed that the person gathered and passed on information about the places where  Russian military personnel and equipment are deployed.  In this case, Hladkykh was accused of having passed on such information in August 2023 to Ukraine’s Military Intelligence [HUR].  According to the standard, and profoundly dishonest, Russian formulation, “the information passed on could have been used to strike the places where the Russian armed forces were deployed, that is, against the security of the country”.

According to Mediazona’s (of necessity) unnamed sources, it is possible that Oksana Hladkykh had corresponded with somebody who claimed to be from HUR, and that this was, in fact, an FSB setup. One way or another, it is clear that Hladkykh had courageously demonstrated her opposition to the aggressor state’s occupation of Ukrainian territory and was targeted for that. 

She was ‘sentenced’ on 7 June 2024 by the occupation ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’ to 14 years’ imprisonment, with this sentence upheld on 7 November 2024 by the first court of appeal in Moscow.  Oleksandra has been able to see her mother once, in the occupation ‘courtroom’, but was not allowed to approach the case where she was held.  The younger children have not seen her at all, and their father, who has sent them to his relatives, is trying to prevent them from having any contact with their mother (though they sometimes manage to write letters and pass them to Oleksandra).

As Oleksandra rightly noted, the sentence imposed on her mother is higher than that often handed down in the case of murder or other real crimes, and here tthey also shattered the lives of Oksana's four children, three of whom are still very young.