Russia’s Southern District Military Court has passed a horrific 18-year sentence against 35-year-old Oksana Ptakhina from occupied Melitopol. All of the Russian reports accuse her of ‘an act of terrorism’, although the Ukrainian strike on 27 March 2023 was nothing of the sort, but directed against Russian military sites. There is also ominous silence about Oksana’s elder brother, Oleksandr Ptakhin, although one of the charges against Oksana was that she dragged her relative into her supposedly “illegal activities”.
Oksana Ptakhina was born on 10 April1990 and is reported by RIA-South to have three children. There is no further information, although it is most unlikely that all, or even some, of the children are aged over 18. Her brother, Oleksandr Ptakhin was born in 1987, with RIA-South reporting that both brother and sister were added together, in June 2025, to Russia’s notorious register of ‘terrorists’ and ‘extremists’. This alone poses major problems, as there are heavy restrictions on a person’s activities, however it seems likely that at least Oksana Ptakhina was seized back in 2023 and has been in Russian captivity since then. Since the first Russian reports seem to be in 2025, she was probably held incommunicado, without any official charges and, therefore, without any access to a proper lawyer. The claim by Russia’s Investigative Committee that, during the ‘preliminary investigation’, Oksana Ptakhina “fully admitted guilt” should be viewed with scepticism. Such long periods held incommunicado and without official status are typically in order that the so-called ‘investigators’ can extract ‘confessions’ through torture, threats or other forms of duress. Judging by the number of hearings and appeals, as well as by the prosecution’s wording, Ptakhina almost certainly rejected part or all of the charges during the actual ‘trial’.
It was claimed that, during 2022-23, Oksana Ptakhina had joined a so-called “Ukrainian terrorist organization” and had drawn her brother into this. They had, allegedly, gathered information about the places of deployment of Russian military and about sites of civilian or military infrastructure.
She was accused and convicted of ‘a terrorist act carried out by a group’ under Article 205 § 2a & c of Russia’s criminal code; of ‘involvement in a terrorist organization’ (Article 205.4 § 2); of ‘abetting terrorist activities’ (Article 205.1 § 1.1) and of ‘involvement in a terrorist organization’ (Article 205.4 § 2).
Accusations of involvement in terrorist organizations are a favourite of Russia’s system of repression on occupied territory. The charge is standardly used against prisoners of war serving in units of Ukraine’s Armed Forces which Russia has labelled ‘terrorist organizations’, and against civilians accused of having passed on information to Ukraine’s Security Service or Military Intelligence. There is certainly nothing in any of the reports to suggest that there was such a ‘terrorist organization ‘ and that it had other members.
Aside from gathering information, and allegedly drawing her brother in, the only allegations pertain to Ukrainian attacks on 27 March 2023.
Despite Russian attempts to claim attacks on “civilian and military infrastructure”, the strikes on 27 March 2023 quite legitimately targeted military sites in occupied Melitopol. As RIA-South notes, this was essentially acknowledged in the indictment passed to the court in November 2027, with the prosecution claiming that the information allegedly passed to Ukraine’s Security Service enabled Ukraine’s Armed Forces to carry out a strike on Russia’s ‘Rosgvardia’, who are, undoubtedly, legitimate targets.
It is possible that Oksana Ptakhina did play a role in resistance activities, for which we can only express administration and gratitude. Unfortunately, another explanation is equally plausible, namely that Oksana was forced to sign a ‘confession’ while illegally held by the Russians. The invaders have a long track record for grabbing anyone after an attack and then setting about obtaining ‘evidence’, including ‘confessions’ extracted through torture.
In July 2025, Russian propaganda sources reported that Oksana Ptakhina had carried out the alleged activities together with two relatives. One was claimed to have been killed while showing ‘resistance’; the other to be living in government-controlled Ukraine. Such killings have been carried out with impunity by Russian FSB since before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with investigations never carried out however absurd the accusation of ‘resistance’ sounds.
The indictment against Oksana Ptakhina was passed to the Southern District Military Court in November 2025, with a fair number of hearings. The sentence of 18 years in a medium security prison colony, followed by another year’s restricted liberty, was passed by ‘judge’ Arslan Ivanovich Zhaginov. It seems likely that Oksana will lodge an appeal against the conviction.
