By KHARKIV. November 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Kharkiv’s Kyivsky District Court has issued a guilty verdict against a suspect in a criminal case on the adjusting of a Russian missile attack on the building of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration on March 1, 2022, Head of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Synehubov has said.
“Today, the Kyivsky District Court of Kharkiv has issued a guilty verdict under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine against a man, 37, who adjusted a Russian missile strike at the building of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration on March 1, 2022. The traitor was sentenced for life with the confiscation of property,” he said on the Telegram channel on Monday.
The investigation proved the suspect’s collaboration with the Russian special services to which he passed through social networks the information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and the region’s infrastructure, the official said.
In particular, on February 28, 2022, the convict informed his curator in Moscow that there were Ukrainian servicemen in the building of the regional administration. He also provided the Russian special services with other information for attacks on Kharkiv and the region, as well as spread Russian propaganda narratives.
The man was found guilty of high treason, spreading the materials justifying Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, illegal repair of firearms, possession of firearms without legal permission, possession and storage of ammunition without legal permission, and storage of explosives without legal permission (Part 2 of Article 111, Part 2 of Article 436-2, Part 1of Article 263-1, and Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), the press service of Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said.
It was established that from February until April 2022 he collected information about the AFU and Kharkiv infrastructure through personal observation, asking local residents, and recording data.
The resident of Kharkiv resident used a social network that is prohibited in Ukraine to transfer the reconnaissance data to two women who worked for the Russian special services. One of the women currently lives in Moscow, while in 2014 she served as a nurse for the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic.” The second woman lives in Saint Petersburg and heads a pro-Russian organization Save Donbas.
On February 28, 2022, the man sent the coordinates of Kharkiv Regional Administration to the curator in Moscow and also provided data for strikes on the head office of the XADO company and a list of addresses around the city which were subsequently shelled by the Russian army.
The man also posted in social networks messages denying Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, approving the actions of the aggressor state’s army, and reposted Russian propaganda messages (in particular, the one that “American scientists were testing hazardous biologicals on patients in Merefa”).
During the searches conducted at his place of residence, law enforcers found computer equipment which he used for his subversive activities, a Fort-202 carabine, gun bullets, a grenade body which he illegally purchased and kept at home.
In course of the investigation, the suspect constantly changed his versions, however he never admitted his guilt. The man said he knew nothing and never transferred any information to Russia.
The verdict has not come into force yet. The term of appeal has not expired.
As reported, on March 1, 2022, the Russian occupation forces inflicted a missile strike on Kharkiv downtown, killing 31 people. The building of the regional administration was severely damaged.
