A court in Kharkiv has sentenced 36-year-old Sergei Tuzhilov to life imprisonment on war crimes charges linked with the direct killing in cold blood of one captured Ukrainian soldier and Tuzhilov’s role in the killing of other prisoners of war. The fact that he appears to have been ‘carrying out orders’ from his command exposes more Russian war crimes but does not mitigate Tuzhilov’s guilt, as the orders were evidently criminal.
Tuzhilov is one of a relatively small number of Russian soldiers to have been tried in person, with the evidence against him having, in part, given by other Russians in custody. He was accused of having directly shot and killed one Ukrainian prisoner of war and of having instructed a subordinate to kill another and supervised the execution. On 13 January 2026, he was found guilty of war crimes in the form of ill-treatment of prisoners of war, linked with their murder (under Article 438 § 2 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, in the version from 19.10.2024). There were two other charges – Article 27 § 5 – acting as an accomplice, including through providing instructions and advice on committing a crime; and Article 28 § 2 – the committing of a crime by a group of people by prior conspiracy.
He was sentenced by the Kholodnohirsky District Court in Kharkiv to life imprisonment, with the court also allowing applications for Tuzhilov to be charged 57 thousand UAH in expenses for the expert assessments and civil suits from those with victim status for 12 million UAH. Although Tuzhilov admitted the charges, and in his final address said that he expressed repentance, he had asked for a milder sentence and could appeal. He has also made no secret of his hope to be placed on the prisoner exchange list.
Sergei Tuzhilov (call-name Altai) is from Krasnodar region and was a rifleman with junior sergeant rank for an assault unit of the 1st motorized battalion of the 82nd motorized regiment. He had already fought once against Ukraine - in Lysychansk (Luhansk oblast) in 2023 – having seemingly signed a contract to fight after being convicted of armed robbery. This was one of two convictions, with the other being for drug trafficking, and he had also fought earlier in both Syria and North Ossetia.
During the preliminary hearing on 2 September, he explained that he had returned to Krasnodar after the first contract ended but returned in 2024 “to earn some money”, by taking part in Russia’s renewed offensive against Vovchansk (a city in Kharkiv oblast close to the Russian border).
Asked during that hearing why he had shot Ukrainian prisoners of war in July 2024, Tuzhilov tried to claim that they would not have survived but would have died an even more painful death (with no water, food, etc). “And also, it was an order from the higher command, not up to my wishes”. He asserted that he had not earlier killed prisoners of war.
The latter denial deserves qualification even from the point of view of the charges in the indictment. The prosecution accused Tuzhilov of involvement in two executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war in June and July 2024, when he was deputy commander of a group deployed at the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant which the Russians had again seized during their second offensive against Vovchansk.
The first was on 16 June 2024 when Tuzhilov and some other Russians took 47-year-old Vasyl Mulko prisoner. He had become lost and came upon the Russians by accident. They proceeded to interrogate him, with Tuzhilov then passing on the information received to his command. Although Mulko was unarmed, and clearly a prisoner of war, Tuzhilov was told to have him killed. He instructed a subordinate with code-name Kot to murder him, while he stood outside, prepared to kill Mulko if Kot did not. He told the court that he had heard a shot and had later seen Mulko’s body, together with those of Russians killed. They did not bury any of the dead.
Two other Ukrainian soldiers – 33-year-old Yuriy Hyryzhuk and 36-year-old Maksym Sidehov – were taken prisoner in July 2026. Both men had earlier defended Ukraine in Donbas and volunteered when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The two Ukrainian defenders were seized during a Russian foray into the city for food. They were bound to pillars and interrogated, with Tuzhilov once again receiving orders to kill them both. Tuzhilov killed one of the men himself, with ‘Kot’ killing the other.
Ukraine’s Military Intelligence liberated the aggregate factory in September 2024, with Tuzhilov taken prisoner (and not executed).
He was charged on 30 June 2025, with the war crime indictment passed to the court on 2 September. Most of the trial took place behind closed doors at the request of the prosecution. Prosecutor Mykyta Dalioka explained that some of the evidence presented could harm Ukraine’s defence capacity if made public and added that the case was also based on testimony from witnesses, including other Russian prisoners of war. Given the strong public interest in the trial, the court debate (where the prosecution and defence make their final statements, as does the defendant) were open to the public, as was the announcement of the sentence on 13 January 2026. Tuzhilov’s final statement was very brief: while asking for the sentence to not be a full life sentence, he said that it was fair, that he had committed the crimes and repented. He ended by asking forgiveness of the relatives for what he had done. Without undue cynicism, expressions of regret and a full confession would be required for there to be any hope of a mitigated sentence.
The court, after deliberation, deemed the crimes to be too serious, and handed down a life sentence.
See also: Russian solider Dmitry Kurashov sentenced to life for gunning down an unarmed Ukrainian POW
