Taras F.'s thwarted military career began on 19 February 2022, when he received a summons. Three days before Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) announced “mobilisation”.
Taras was born in the town of Zuhresa, in the Donetsk region. A town controlled by the Russian occupiers since 2014, as the accused told the Kostopil district court in charge of trying him, in the Rivne region (northwestern Ukraine).
On 19 February 2022, on the same day he was summoned, Taras went to the recruitment centre and was given a uniform and ammunition. After that, he was sent to the occupied town of Horlivka, where he joined the 101st Rifle Regiment of the DNR's 1st Army Corps. Then, from 1 March to 10 March 2022, Taras was trained at a training base in the Russian region of Belgorod.
Desertion from the DNR and the Ukrainian armies
After that, the man was sent to war in Ukraine. According to the investigation, his job was to set up checkpoints, inspect vehicles, conduct checks on locals, and carry out his commander’s orders. According to the accused, on 30 May 2022, he was injured and hospitalised.
After treatment, he decided not to return to service. Instead, he travelled to Russia, to Estonia and to Poland, to look for a job.
On 29 September 2023, Taras settled in Kyiv.
However, in November 2023, due to mobilisation in Ukraine, he decided to leave the country for Poland. But he was arrested and detained at the border, where he received a military ID card, and was sent to the Rivne training base.
On 13 March 2024, Taras left the military unit without authorisation: as the accused stated, he wanted to go to Belarus, and from there return to his mother in the occupied part of the Donetsk region, because she was ill and needed treatment.
But once again, his plan failed.
On the same day, he was detained by representatives of the military law enforcement service. Taras was charged with violating two articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Code regarding high treason and desertion.
Witness statements and phone records
The evidence in court included a witness statement of a clerk from the Novooleksandrivka district administration of the Kharkiv region, as well as statements of the district head and of an employee of a local utility company. They recognised Taras and said that in the spring of 2022, they saw him standing armed at checkpoints in Novooleksandrivka, which was under occupation at the time, and conducting vehicle inspections.
The list of servicemen of the 101st DNR rifle regiment and a handwritten table with the names of the soldiers, including the defendant’s name, also served as evidence. And Taras’s photos helped to identify several servicemen who fought on the side of the Russian Federation.
The “waiting for you at home” programme
Among other inquiries, law enforcement officers analysed search records on the defendant’s phone, which included: “crossing the border under family circumstances”, “Zaporizhzhia thermal power station”, “military plants in Kyiv”, “living in the occupied territory”. In addition, Taras was looking for information about the “waiting for you at home’ programme.
The “waiting for you at home” is a social programme launched by the security service of Ukraine in August 2015. Its purpose is to return to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine those Ukrainians who voluntarily refused to participate in the so-called Luhansk (LNR) or Donetsk (DNR) People’s Republics. The programme was developed for people who, without realising the illegality of their actions, went to “serve” in the armies of the DNR or LNR, did not commit serious crimes (murder, torture, rape, etc.), and later decided to confess.
“Difficult circumstances”
During his trial, Taras repented and told the court that he had served in the DNR army due to “difficult circumstances”, as he had been living in the occupied territory since 2014. He asked the court not to confiscate his property. But the investigators got access to a Skype correspondence between Taras and his mother, in which he wrote that he wanted to leave the government-controlled territory of Ukraine.
On 15 November 2024, Taras was found guilty of high treason and desertion by the Kostopil District Court , which sentenced him to 12 years in prison. The accused was also fined for almost UAH 8,000 to cover the investigations’ expenses.
Under international humanitarian law, it is not prohibited to convict combatants if they are the citizens of the country they are fighting against. However, the court must establish that the decision to participate in hostilities was made voluntarily.
By 30 November 2024, no appeal had yet been filed by the accused nor by his defence lawyer, who had participated in court hearings via video conference.
This report is part of our coverage of war crimes justice produced in partnership with Ukrainian journalists. A first version of this article was published on the « Free Radio ».
