Maksym Rupchov is the fifth young Ukrainian whom Russia has sentenced to huge terms of imprisonment for their work in writing for and / or administering pro-Ukrainian Melitopol Telegram channels. Maksym, who was just 23 when seized by the Russian FSB in August 2023 and almost certainly tortured, was one of the administrators of the channel Melitopol is Ukraine.
Officially, Rupchov (b. 18.04.2000) was convicted of ‘spying’ (under Article 276 of Russia’s criminal code); of ‘a terrorist act, committed by a group and causing significant damage’ (Article 205 § 2a & c) and ‘involvement in a terrorist group’ (Article 205.4 § 2). He was sentenced to 15 years' maximum-security imprisonment, with the first three years in a prison, the harshest of Russian penal institutions. Next to nothing is known about any individual ‘trial’, but the final indictment against Rupchov is believed to have been the same as that in the earlier ‘trials’ behind closed doors of fellow journalists / Telegram administrators Yana Suvorova; Vladyslav Hershon; and Heorhiy Levchenko. Similar sentences can, unfortunately, be expected against Denys Hlushchenko and Oleksandr Malyshev
All of these young Ukrainians had acted as administrators of either RIA-Melitopol or Melitopol is Ukraine. The Russian prosecution claimed that they had, on instructions from Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, asked subscribers to inform them via a feedback bot about the build-up of Russian military and technology, and had then passed this information on to Ukrainian intelligence officers. They were specifically accused of having directed a HIMARS missile at a building in occupied Zaporizhzhia oblast commandeered by Russia’s FSB and Rosgvardia. There had, indeed, been a strike by Ukraine’s Armed Forces on the building on 27 March 2023, however those inside had vacated the building when the sirens sounded.
With Russia creating an information blockade and holding all such supposed trials behind closed doors, it is impossible to verify or refute any particular allegation. There have, however, been very many cases where people ‘off the street’ have been seized and tortured into providing supposed ‘confessions’, and where a person has been charged and convicted over attacks, etc. which took place long after they had been taken into custody. Using such methods, the FSB can boast of having ‘captured the culprits’ of real attacks by Ukraine’s defenders, or of having ‘thwarted’ countless fictitious crimes. In this respect, it is telling that the original allegations from the FSB, over two months after the young people had been seized and held incommunicado, said nothing at all about the HIMARS strike.
The secrecy in such cases has meant that the sentence was only now reported, although it was passed on 13 November 2025 by ‘judge’ Denis Aleksandrovich Galkin from Russia’s notorious Southern District Military Court in Rostov. Although the indictment was passed to this court in June, there appears to have been only one actual ‘hearing’ before the ‘court’ retired to pass sentence, with Rupchov not brought to the court three times. It is very likely that Rupchov and the others were tortured during the months in which nothing was known of their whereabouts, and that he was, at very least, placed under great pressure later to ‘admit the charges’. Mark Kaliush, the young vulnerable Telegram administrator who was also convicted, albeit on rather different charges, sentenced to indefinite punitive psychiatry and then released in a prisoner exchange, has confirmed that he gave the October 2023 ‘confession’ under torture.
Six or more journalists / administrators were abducted on or just after 20 August 2023, the day that the Russian invaders managed to hack into and hijack RIA-Melitopol, and then Melitopol is Ukraine. These were enforced disappearances, not arrests, with nothing known of the young people’s whereabouts until they were shown in a cynical propaganda stunt on Russian television ( on 27 October 2023. The FSB claimed that it had detained three large reconnaissance groups coordinated by Ukraine’s Military Intelligence. Although the propaganda program clearly implied that the ‘operation against these supposed ‘agent groups’ had just taken place, all had been held incommunicado, undoubtedly without access to independent lawyers since August that year. They were accused of ‘public calls to terrorist attacks’; supposed ‘treason’ and ‘spying’ and threatened with 12 to 20 years’ imprisonment. Yana Suvorova, Mark Kaliush, a very young man earlier diagnosed with schizophrenia Oleksandr Malyshev, and journalist Heorhy Levchenko were shown providing the ‘confessions and repentance’ clearly demanded of them.
The report, chillingly, claimed that “one of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence agents” had opened fire and had been killed, with it further asserted that explosives and grenades had been found in his apartment.
This unidentified person may well never have existed, with no such alleged stashes of explosives, etc. impugned against the seized and identifiable journalists. In October 2023, they were essentially accused only of a variation on Russia’s standard claim that Ukrainians living on Ukrainian territory were guilty of ‘spying’ or ‘treason’ for, allegedly, passing on information about the invading army to Ukraine’s defenders. They were also accused of “exerting psychological influence on residents of the region” and “anti-Russian propaganda”, although the current regime in Russia has yet to reinstate Soviet legislation against the latter.
Russia’s attack on Melitopol journalists and administrators of the channels RIA-Melitopol and Melitopol is Ukraine has been internationally condemned as yet another attempt by the Russian invaders to crush any independent media resources on occupied territory. In a statement after the 16 and 15-year sentences, respectively, against Heorhiy Levchenko and Vladyslav Hershon, Reporters without Borders called them a travesty of justice and said that they were aimed at crushing independent journalism and terrorizing the population.
See also:
Anastasia Hlukhovska
Yana Suvorova
Russia sentences youngest abducted journalist to 14 years for Melitopol is Ukraine Telegram channel
Vladyslav Hershon
Heorhiy Levchenko
Mark Kaliush
