He set fire to the court in Korabelnyi for money from Telegram: the 19-year-old arsonist was given a real prison term

At the public prosecution by the Mykolaiv City District Prosecutor’s Office the court found guilty a previously convicted 19-year-old city resident of intentionally damaging another’s property by arson under Part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It was under this article that he was sentenced to 6 years 5 months imprisonment. This was reported on 23 April 2026 by the Mykolaiv City Prosecutor’s Office.

Investigators established that in the messenger Telegram the accused received an offer from an unknown person to set fire to the premises of the Korabelnyi District Court of Mykolaiv for a reward and agreed. After that, in January 2025, he used a flammable mixture and set the court building on fire. Subsequently law enforcement identified him during a set of operational-search measures and detained him.

In court the accused fully admitted his guilt. He awaited the verdict in custody. The prosecutor’s office separately emphasized that the decision has not yet come into legal force, since the period for filing an appeal is still ongoing.

This story is especially resonant for the Korabelnyi district, because it is not simply arson of property, but an attack on a court building. Against the backdrop of the war and a wave of crimes that perpetrators undertake at the instructions of anonymous users in messengers, such cases no longer look like random pranks. Previously, similar arsons of facilities “on assignment” via Telegram have already been recorded in Mykolaiv.