Ukrainian detained in Mariupol sentenced to 26 years in Russian penal colony

A Ukrainian citizen and a Russian citizen who were detained in occupied Mariupol have been sentenced to 26 years in a penal colony on charges of "terrorism and espionage" by the Southern District Military Court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

Source: BBC News Russian

Details: The Russian investigators claimed that in 2022, Denys Hlushchenko and Aleksandr Malyshev established contact with representatives of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) in Russian-occupied Melitopol.

The men are alleged to have "collected and verified information on the functioning of buildings and structures to determine whether military and law enforcement units were stationed there".

The investigators claimed that this information was used to carry out a missile and bomb strike against Russian troops in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

The media report cited by BBC News Russian indicates that the men were detained in Mariupol in October 2023.

Background: Two Ukrainian prisoners of war, Vitalii Slobodeniuk, a 25-year-old artillery platoon gunner, and Bohdan Holovanov, a 24-year-old driver in a howitzer battalion, were recently each sentenced to 18 years in a strict-regime penal colony by the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, for allegedly "participating in a terrorist organisation and receiving training for terror-related activities".

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