Russian "court" sentences Ukrainian marine commanders to life imprisonment
The so-called Supreme Court of the Donetsk People's Republic has sentenced Colonel Volodymyr Baraniuk, commander of Ukraine's 36th Separate Marine Brigade, along with his deputies Dmytro Karmiankov and Vitalii Yaroshenko, and 501st Marine Battalion commander Mykola Biriukov, to life imprisonment in a high-security penal colony.
Source: Russian Investigative Committee; Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR)
Details: Russia's "investigation" claimed that in 2022 "with the aim of violently retaining the power of the Kyiv regime in Mariupol, the defendants organised the encirclement of the northern part of the city."
"Carrying out criminal orders, their subordinates held civilians to use as a human shield, preventing evacuation, and killed those who did not agree with the actions of the Kyiv regime," the Russians alleged. They attributed the deaths of 93 people to the Ukrainian servicemen.
As the MIHR notes, Russia decided to impute to the four men all episodes for which it had already prosecuted and convicted marines during 2022-2026, some of them to life imprisonment. Baraniuk and the other commanders were accused of issuing orders.
According to the Ukrainian human rights defenders, Baraniuk, Karmiankov and Yaroshenko stated in court that they deny all the charges.
After the start of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, Baraniuk was one of the commanders who led the defence of Mariupol. For one and a half months, the combined forces of the Mariupol garrison – marines, National Guard troops (including Azov fighters), border guards and other units – tried to hold the city on the coast of the Sea of Azov.
During the defence of the city, units of the 36th Brigade were scattered across different districts, often without communication with each other. In March, they concentrated on the territory of Azovmash and the Illich Iron and Steel Works. These are two separate industrial facilities located next to each other in the northern part of Mariupol.
On 2 April, Russian forces established control over most of central Mariupol. As a result, the defence sector of the main forces of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade was cut off from Ukrainian units holding Azovstal – mainly Azov fighters.
The MIHR states that, according to witnesses, the Azov headquarters proposed that the command of the 36th brigade break through to Azovstal in order to unite the forces. The distance between the positions was up to ten kilometres within urban development. However, brigade commander Volodymyr Baraniuk and his deputies proposed a different plan. They insisted that it was necessary to break out of the encirclement.
On 4 April 2022, Russian media posted a video showing several dozen Ukrainian servicemen walking with their hands raised. It later turned out that 267 marines of the 501st Battalion, which is part of the 36th Brigade, together with battalion commander Mykola Biriukov, had come under the control of Russian forces.
On 12 April, it was reported that several hundred marines managed to break through from the Illich plant to Azovstal in Mariupol, where the Azov regiment was located. However, as it later became known, another part of the marine brigade was captured.
On 8 May, Russian media reported that the commander of the 36th Brigade, Hero of Ukraine Colonel Volodymyr Baraniuk, and Chief of Staff Colonel Dmytro Karmiankov had been captured.
Read more: Escaping the besieged city by foot: the untold story of a marine's escape from Mariupol
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