Only a week of the village's occupation in Mykolaiv Oblast: the traitor fled with the Russians but was sentenced to 15 years

The village of Maryivka was under Russian occupation for about a week; however, during that time a local pensioner managed to provide the occupiers with housing, supplies, and information for the movement of military equipment

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22 Jul 2026

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The Korabelnyi District Court of the city of Mykolaiv found in absentia a resident of the village Mar’ivka of Bashtanskyi district guilty of state treason – Kirtok Yurii Volodymyrovych, born 25 April 1961. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of all property owned by him.

The verdict in the case No. 468/1691/23, court proceedings No. 1-kp/488/93/26, was adopted by the panel of judges on 17 June 2026. The hearing was conducted in a special procedure in the absence of the accused, who left Ukraine and did not appear before the court.

Why the case was heard by the Korabelnyi court

The events described in the criminal proceedings did not occur in the Korabelnyi district of Mykolaiv, but in the village of Mar’ivka of Bashtanskyi district. Initially the indictment was submitted to the Bashtanskyi District Court.

However, Kirtok Yurii Volodymyrovych was charged under part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of this article provides for 15 years or life imprisonment, therefore the case had to be heard by a panel of 3 judges.

The Bashtanskyi District Court at that time could not form the required composition of the panel. Because of this, on 22 August 2023 the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal changed territorial jurisdiction and transferred the criminal proceedings to the Korabelnyi District Court of the city of Mykolaiv.

Thus, the case ended up in the Korabelnyi court not because of the place where the crime was committed, but because it was impossible to form a panel of judges in Bashtanka.

Russian forces held the village for about a week

According to the verdict, Russian forces occupied Mar’ivka in the period from 10 to 17 March 2022. In some witness statements the day of entry of the occupiers was named as 11 March, however official certificates from local self-government bodies and circumstances established by the court determine the start of the occupation as 10-11 March.

Thus, the settlement was under the control of Russian invaders for about one week. Ukrainian forces liberated the village on 17 March 2022.

Handed over 2 houses to the occupiers

The court found that during the occupation Kirtok Yurii Volodymyrovych voluntarily agreed to assist Russian servicemen.

The convicted man provided the occupiers with 2 residential houses for accommodation. In one of them the Russians set up a so-called “headquarters”, rest areas for personnel, as well as premises for the storage of weapons and ammunition.

Russian military equipment was stationed in the yards near the houses. According to local residents’ testimony, the command staff of the occupying forces stayed in the convict’s home.

Received a rifle and drove with the symbol “Z”

As the court established, Kirtok Yurii Volodymyrovych was in trusting relations with Russian military personnel. One of the occupiers handed him an automatic weapon, which he carried with him constantly.

The man moved around the village together with Russian servicemen in an Opel Astra car. The car displayed the letter “Z”, which the Russian army used as a symbol of its invasion of Ukraine.

The convicted man wore a white armband on his arm – an identification sign used by Russian military personnel and persons who assisted them during the occupation.

Witnesses reported that other villagers were afraid to leave their homes, while the convicted man freely drove around the settlement accompanied by the occupiers.

Collected food, alcohol and cigarettes for the Russians

During the occupation of Mar’ivka the convict supplied Russian servicemen with food, water and other material resources.

According to the court, he drove the occupiers to shops and to local residents’ households, showing whose property could be taken for food, cigarettes and alcoholic drinks.

One of the witnesses said that a Russian serviceman came to her house and stated that he had been sent by the convict. The woman gave the occupier a bucket of potatoes because she feared possible consequences of refusal.

Also, Kirtok Yurii Volodymyrovych urged fellow villagers to cooperate with the Russians and argued that life would get better after the arrival of the occupation authorities.

Showed the Russians a route across the Inhul

A separate episode of the indictment concerned assistance to Russian forces in planning a crossing of the Inhul river.

Around 12 March 2022 the occupiers discussed with the convict the possibility of forcing the river. He told them about a bridge between the villages of and Inhulka and indicated the direction by which Russian equipment could get to the other bank.

According to a witness, the Russians’ attempt to use this route was unsuccessful: the column of occupiers and their equipment were struck.

Russian army uniform and gear found in the house

During a search of the household on 10 September 2022, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine found items that belonged to Russian servicemen.

The seized items included:

a Russian military jacket with patches of the flag and coat of arms of the Russian Federation;
military trousers;
a bulletproof vest 6B45;
army boots;
a metal ammunition box;
a military field bag;
a gas mask bag;
a radiotelephonist’s notebook marked “MO RF” for 2021;
a map of the road network of occupied Crimea;
packages of Russian field rations, canned food and army biscuits;
a starter pack of a Russian mobile operator.

The court ordered most of the seized items to be destroyed after the verdict becomes legally effective.

Fled after the village was liberated

Ukrainian forces de-occupied Mar’ivka on 17 March 2022. According to local residents, the convicted man left the village together with his wife and stepdaughter shortly after the Russian troops withdrew.

Data from the State Border Guard Service confirmed that he crossed the state border on 22 March 2022.

Because the accused was located outside the territory controlled by Ukraine, the investigation and trial were held in absentia. Notices of suspicion and summonses were published in the newspaper “Uryadovyi Kur’ier” and on the official website of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

The state also provided the accused with a lawyer from the system of free legal aid.

The defense asked to classify the actions as collaboration

The lawyer asked the court to reclassify the accused’s actions from state treason to collaborationist activity and to impose the minimum sentence.

The defense referred to the fact that the man had no prior convictions, had stable social ties, was a pensioner and was not registered with a narcologist or psychiatrist.

The panel of judges rejected the request for reclassification. The court noted that the convict not only supported the occupiers, but provided representatives of a foreign state with concrete assistance in subversive activities against Ukraine.

The court did not establish any circumstances that would mitigate or aggravate the punishment.

15 years and confiscation of property

Kirtok Yurii Volodymyrovych was found guilty under part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and was sentenced to:

15 years’ imprisonment;
confiscation of all property owned by him.

The term of serving the sentence will be counted from the moment of the actual detention of the convicted person during the enforcement of the verdict.

The court maintained an arrest on a land plot of 6.6285 hectares with cadastral number 4820683400:02:000:0104. The land should be used to enforce the verdict in terms of property confiscation.

The verdict may be appealed to the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal.