Vitaliy Skorokhod turned 27 on 7 February 2026, with this very likely his third birthday in Russian captivity. The young man was accused of acts of sabotage on the railway lines Russia is using for its war of aggression against Ukraine and sentenced by an occupation ‘court’ to 19 years’ imprisonment. While possible that Skorokhod was indeed a railway partisan helping his country against the aggressor state, it is, unfortunately, just as likely that the charges were fabricated, with the young Ukrainian probably tortured into providing the ‘testimony’ used to pass such a horrific sentence.
RIA-South reported in November 2024 that the Russian invaders had posted the latest video “aimed at intimidating the population and demonstrating their own omnipotence”. The video was about a supposed investigation into a series of explosions on the railway lines in occupied Melitopol, with the Russians accusing Vitaliy Skorokhod, a young man from Kherson.
The Russian sources claimed that, from June 2023, there had been three explosions on the railway tracks near Melitopol with these causing damage to the railway system and panicking train drivers. The so-called ‘investigators’ had, purportedly, managed to find evidence left at the scene and then seized the suspect ‘red-handed’, as he was trying to blow up a gas distribution station in Melitopol. Russia’s FSB and Investigative Committee have been claiming to have ‘thwarted’ acts of sabotage or terrorism on occupied territory since 2014, with the ‘proof’ for this almost always from videoed ‘confessions’ or ‘material evidence’ obtained while a person was held incommunicado, without a lawyer or any procedural status. Here, Skorokhod was apparently shown on such a video, saying he understood that he would receive a huge term of imprisonment.
Skorokhod had already been added to Russia’s notorious ‘list of extremists and terrorists’ and may well have been in Russian captivity since June 2023 or soon afterwards.
It was reported that the indictment against him had been passed to the Russian occupation ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’, with Skorokhod accused of fourteen ‘grave and especially grave crimes’.
A Russian propaganda newspaper and RIA South both reported on 20 February 2026 that Vitaliy Skorokhod had been sentenced to 19 years’ maximum-security imprisonment, with the first three years in a prison, the harshest of Russian penal institutions. A steep 700 thousand rouble fine was also imposed by the illegitimate ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’.
While there is too little information for the Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project to declare Skorokhod a political prisoner, they have added him to their list of ‘Other victims of political repression’. They also report that the sentence was passed on 18 February 2025, and not a full year later. Given the fact that all such ‘trials’ are a fiction and that there is typically a very short amount of time between the report that a ‘case’ has been passed to an occupation ‘court’ and the announcement of the sentence, the earlier date may well be correct. This would not be the first time that Russian propaganda media have either reported a shocking sentence twice or chosen when to write their latest ‘Ukrainian terrorist’ piece.
One of the many details that arouse suspicion in this case is the fact that Skorokhod is alleged to have received three thousand dollars for every “act of terrorism”. Russia wants to terrorise the local population with cautionary tales about so-called ‘saboteurs’ receiving long sentences but does not want to suggest that those whom they have seized were impelled by patriotism and the wish to help their native Ukraine. Hence the standard assertion that the person “did it for money”, with another popular thread here being the additional claim that they were cheated and did not get paid.
The Investigative Committee claimed that Skorokhod had been “recruited” in 2022 in Kherson oblast, with this allegedly by an unidentified member of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, call name ‘Den’, via Telegram. He was accused of obtaining explosives via hiding places; of putting together homemade explosive devices and of a number of explosions on the railway around Melitopol. Even these Russian reports admitted that the train drivers had not been injured, while saying that train movement on the line had been suspended, and damages incurred.
Another sinister element in this story is the presence of a young woman called ‘Elia’, whom Skorokhod allegedly met via the ‘Daivinchik’ dating app. He supposedly confided in her about his activities, but she “got scared of the consequences and stopped talking with him, blocking him on Telegram.” Although the Russian propaganda Komsomolskaya Pravda simply adds that soon afterwards, Skorokhod was “discovered and arrested”, it seems very likely that this was because of Elzia. Who the latter was can only be guessed. She could have been working for the occupation enforcement bodies or may have simply been terrorised or threatened by the latter into providing false testimony against Vitaliy Skorokhod.
The case was under Russian ‘investigator on particularly important cases’, Artem Khviyuzov. There is presently no information as to who the so-called ‘judge’ was, and whether there was a pretence of a trial, or merely the hearing at which sentence was passed.
