Russia has sentenced hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war to 15-20 years or more on fake ‘terrorism’ charges, with such sentences appearing almost daily in the last few weeks. The so-called ‘trials’ and predetermined verdicts are most often based solely on flawed and politically motivated rulings which declared various units of Ukraine’s Armed Forces ‘terrorist organizations’. In one case, that of the Noman Çelebicihan Battalion, Russia’s Supreme Court does not appear to have known what exactly it was labelling ‘terrorist’. In others, the rulings were evidently issued to be used retroactively, against Ukrainian defenders already held in Russian captivity, or in some cases against civilians whose service in defending Ukraine dates back to 2014-15.
Serhiy Dziuba
On 10 September 2025, Serhiy Dziuba (b. 14 December 1990) was sentenced to 20 years’ maximum-security imprisonment. The Ukrainian prisoner of war was serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Aidar Battalion in the spring of 2024 when he was taken prisoner. Instead of acknowledging Dziuba’s protected status as a prisoner of war, Russia accused him of ‘involvement in a terrorist organization’, under Article 205.5 § 2 of Russia’s criminal code, and of ‘training in terrorist activities’ under Article 205.3. These bizarre charges were based entirely on the fact that Dziuba was serving in the Aidar Battalion. This was initially a volunteer formation which arose in reaction to Russia’s military aggression in early 2014. There had been concern over the behaviour of some members of the battalion during this very early stage, with that probably a factor in Ukraine’s formally incorporating the Battalion into the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2015 as the 24th Separate Assault Battalion. Despite this, Russia used the notorious Southern District Military Court in Rostov to issue a ruling on 23 September 2023, ‘banning’ this division of Ukraine’s Armed Forces as a purportedly ‘terrorist organization’.
Worth noting that the report by the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic prosecutor’ openly acknowledges that Dziuba was serving in “Aidar Ukraine’s Armed Forces”.
Yet, on 10 September, ‘judge’ Artem Aleksandrovich Shapaev, from the same Southern District Military Court used to set the conveyor belt sentences in motion, found Serhiy Dziuba ‘guilty’ and sentenced him to 20 years, with the first three years to be in a prison, the harshest of Russia’s appalling penal institutions.
Denys Demianenko
On 11 September 2025, ‘judge’ Arslan Ivanovich Zhaginov from the same Southern District Military Court sentenced 48-year-old Ukrainian defender and POW Denys Demianenko to 19 years’ maximum-security imprisonment, with the first three years in a prison. Aside from the date when Demianenko was taken prisoner, essentially everything else was identical, with the grotesque charges and sentence based on his military service in the Aidar Battalion of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
The two cases above, while in flagrant violation of international law, do not infringe the fundamental principle that the law is not retroactive. The absurd ruling, declaring Aidar ‘terrorist’, was passed before the two men were taken prisoner.
A considerable number of prisoners of war, had long been held in Russian captivity when the ruling was issued, with this not stopping Russia from charging them with ‘terrorism’.
Many are, in fact, civilians, who were seized and then ‘convicted’ of involvement in the Aidar Battalion in 2014 or 2015. Not only was this nine years before the ruling claiming Aidar to be ‘terrorist’, but it was also based on the men having served in occupied parts of Donbas which, despite its full control, Russia had not then even formally recognized.
These include Ivan Hanziy (b. 15 June 1948) in Luhansk oblast. The then 78-year-old pensioner was sentenced to 15 years on 6 February 2025. The one charge, of ‘involvement in a terrorist organization’ (Article 205.4 § 2), was over his defending Ukraine as part of the Aidar Battalion in 2014.
In April 2025, Serhiy Kosolap was sentenced to 18 years’ maximum-security imprisonment for having served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces Aidar Battalion back in 2015 when the young Ukrainian was just 22.
On 10 July 2025, 51-year-old Yevhen Shohin, who is originally from Crimea, was sentenced by ‘judge’ Ilya Nikolaevich Bezgub from the Southern District Military Court to 16 years’ maximum-security imprisonment over alleged involvement in the Aidar Battalion back in 2014. The sentence was reported in September as having come into force, with Shohin clearly not having lodged an appeal.
Of 18 new prosecutions passed to the Southern District Military Court in August 2025 alone, the Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project found two against Ukrainians – 49-year-old Oleksandr Solodky and 46-year-old Dmytro Sukharevsky - over claimed involvement in Aidar.
Azov Regiment
A huge number of soldiers from the Ukrainian Armed Forces Azov Regiment took part in the defence of Mariupol in 2022. Moscow’s revenge was swift, with the required tool, namely a Supreme Court claim that Azov is a ‘terrorist organization’, passed on 2 August 2022. Many of the ‘trials’ and monstrous sentences passed have already been reported here, as has been the evidence that prisoners of war from the Azov Regiment have been particularly savagely tortured in Russian captivity.
New indictments (seemingly, based solely on the Supreme Court’s obliging ruling, declaring Azov ‘terrorist’) were passed to the Southern District Military Court regarding the following:
Danylo Ovcharenko (29) who has seemingly been a prisoner of war since May 2022;
Dmytro Porokolets (27);
Bohdan Beznosko (31);
Mykhailo Tytarenko (26);
Oleksiy Chokan (32);
Roman Ataman (31);
Bohdan Pidluzhny (32);
Dmytro Chebyshev (28)
Edward Barbansky (37)
‘Donbas Battalion’
There are less of these prosecutions, however the reason for this probably lies with the much smaller numbers having passed through the Donbass Battalion.
In October 2024, ‘judge’ Aleksandr Vasilievich Generalov from the Southern District Military Court sentenced Roman Ponomarenko to 18 years’ maximum-security imprisonment. Ponomarenko, who was 46 when seized. appears to have served as a medic in the Ukrainian National Guard’s Donbas Battalion.
The FSB Register of so-called ‘terrorist organizations’ states that the ruling, declaring the Donbas 46th Assault Battalion of Ukraine’s Armed Forces ‘terrorist’, was passed by the Southern District Military Court on 22 October 2024.
Taras Shkuro
40-year-old Taras Shkuro is currently ‘on trial’, facing the same kind of sentence on identical charges.
The Noman Çelebicihan Battalion.
If ‘sentences on charges linked with the Azov Regiment, the Aidar and the Donbas Battalions began some time ago, the situation was, until very recently, different with respect to the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion.
There were a large number of prosecutions, beginning from 2018, and escalating sharply after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Despite a flawed and politically motivated Russian supreme court ruling in June 2022, which declared the Noman Çelebicihan (or ‘Asker’) Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion, a ‘terrorist organization’, the charges were not under ‘terrorism’ legislation and the sentences, accordingly, lower. As mentioned, it is really not clear whether the Supreme Court knew what they were banning, as the prosecutions from 2018 until now largely pertained to the unarmed and perfectly legal civic organization founded to help man the vital Civic Blockade of Crimea.
Over recent months, however, Russia has begun sentencing prisoners of war from the 48th Separate Assault Battalion, named after Noman Çelebicihan to huge terms of imprisonment on ‘terrorism’ charges. While the Battalion is historically linked with the above civic organization, it arose in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The Battalion is part of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, and specifically the 123rd Territorial Defence Brigade.
Both Ihor Varchuk in May 2025, and Serhiy Yatskov on 3 September 2025 received 20-year sentences on preposterous ‘terrorism’ charges, although both are, undoubtedly political prisoners.
The same is true of Dmytro Stadnikov, a 36-year-old POW, who was sentenced on 11 September by the Southern District Military Court to 20 years maximum-security imprisonment, with the first three years in a prison.
