'Cosplay of justice' — Russia sentences 4 Ukrainian POWs to nearly 30 years in prison
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Russia's Second Western District Military Court has handed down lengthy prison terms to four Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), the Russian Prosecutor General's Office announced on Sept. 3.
The prisoners were accused of conducting sabotage and reconnaissance operations against military and industrial facilities within Russia.
The Russian court convicted Ukrainian servicemembers Lieutenant Colonel Andrii Antonenko, Captain Andrii Kulish, Junior Lieutenant Denis Tkachenko, and Sergeant Oleksii Mazurenko of planning and carrying out terrorist attacks, among other lesser charges.
Antonenko received a 28-year sentence, with the first five years to be served in prison and the remainder of the term in a maximum-security penal colony. He was also fined 2 million rubles (around $24,695).
Kulish and Mazurenko were both sentenced to 26 years, while Tkachenko received 27 years.
All four officers were captured in Russia's Bryansk Oblast, according to the state news agency TASS.
The soldiers were accused of mining power lines, a railway, and an oil storage facility, the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported. They were also accused of planting drones near the Shaykovka military airfield in Russia's Kaluga Oblast in August 2023.
The Shaykovka airfield houses strategic bombers used to drop missiles on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) reported in August 2023 that a drone strike at the facility damaged at least one military plane.
In their final statements to the court, the four POWs said that they were defending Ukraine and following the orders of their commanding officers. They also stressed that not a single Russian person, military or civilian, was harmed in their operations.
"I do not consider myself a terrorist and do not agree with the accusations that have been brought against me," Antonenko said.
"I do not know how my future fate and life will turn out, but I have such a deep personal feeling that this is still some kind of cosplay of justice."
Russia has held a number of sham trials for Ukrainian POWs in recent years. In June, a Russian court convicted 184 Ukrainian POWs captured in Kursk Oblast of acts of terrorism.
