The Southern District Military Court sentenced 34-year-old Ukrainian prisoner of war Dmytro Zhytnyk to 19 years in a maximum-security penal colony. The court’s press service told Mediazona about the ruling.
Zhytnyk was found guilty of participation in a terrorist community and undergoing training for terrorist activity. These are standard charges that Russian investigators regularly bring against service members connected to the Azov Regiment.
According to the prosecution, Zhytnyk joined Azov, which Russia has designated a terrorist organization, in the autumn of 2017. Prosecutors also said he trained at a facility in the Lviv region, where, according to the case materials, he acquired weapons-handling skills.
According to the court’s statement, Zhytnyk served in the unit with the rank of warrant officer and held the post of senior instructor.
In May 2022, the Ukrainian serviceman was taken prisoner by Russia along with other troops involved in the defense of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.