He left prison to serve — and ended up back behind bars: soldier robbed a Gazelle van on Okeanivska Street

The man had been convicted multiple times in the past, and in 2024 he was released early to serve in the military

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07 Oct 2026

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The Korabelnyi District Court of Mykolaiv sentenced a serviceman who, after being released from prison on parole to serve under a contract, later unlawfully entered a parked “GAZ-33021” on Okeanivska Street and took a bag containing important personal documents from the cab. For the new offences, the court sentenced him to 2 years of restricted liberty. However, taking another sentence into account, his final punishment was 5 years and 1 month of imprisonment. The ruling in case No. 488/431/26 was issued on October 1, 2026.

The defendant is a native of Mykolaiv and a contract serviceman who served as a rifleman in the 3rd Assault Specialist Squad of the 1st Assault Specialist Platoon of the 2nd Assault Specialist Company “Shkval” of a military unit. He has a basic secondary education, is unmarried, and has a minor child to support.

He had already been convicted several times. On May 25, 2015, the Korabelnyi District Court of Mykolaiv sentenced him to 4 years and 3 months in prison for several offences involving drugs and theft. On January 20, 2016, the same court sentenced him to a further 4 years and 3 months for attempted robbery, theft, and fraud. After serving this sentence, he was released on January 11, 2018.

Then, on June 5, 2019, the Zhovtnevyi District Court of Mykolaiv sentenced him to 5 years and 6 months in prison for theft, robbery, and an offence against a law enforcement officer. On March 5, 2020, the Korabelnyi District Court also imposed a sentence of 5 years and 6 months. He did not serve the full term: on June 4, 2024, he was released on parole to serve in the military under a contract.

However, further convictions followed. On February 12, 2025, the Korabelnyi Court of Mykolaiv found him guilty under Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — unlawful handling of weapons or ammunition — and sentenced him to 2 years of service restrictions for military personnel, with 20% of his pay withheld. Then, on August 18, 2026, the Inhulskyi District Court of Mykolaiv sentenced him to 5 years and 1 month in prison under Part 5 of Article 407 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The latest incident considered by the Korabelnyi District Court took place on December 24, 2025, at approximately 12:35. The man was in a parking lot at 28-B Okeanivska Street in Mykolaiv. According to the case materials, he opened the front passenger door of a parked “GAZ-33021” and entered the vehicle’s cab without permission.

Inside, the serviceman saw a bag containing documents and took it. The stolen items included a driver’s licence, a military ID, the registration certificate for a “GAZ-33021”, and the registration certificate for a “VAZ 21112”. In the operative part of the ruling, however, the vehicle model is given as “VAZ 2112”, meaning the court decision itself contains a discrepancy in the model designation.

In court, the defendant fully admitted his guilt and did not dispute either the unlawful entry into the “GAZ-33021” or the theft of the documents. As the parties did not dispute the facts of the case, the court applied Part 3 of Article 349 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and did not examine all the evidence in full.

The court found him guilty under Part 1 of Article 162 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — unlawful entry into another person’s premises — and under Part 3 of Article 357 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — unlawful possession of important personal documents.

The court considered his full admission of guilt, sincere remorse, active assistance in solving the crime, the absence of serious consequences, and the lack of claims by the victims to be mitigating circumstances. The court found no aggravating circumstances. At the same time, it took into account that he had previously been convicted multiple times, including for serious crimes, and that his prior convictions had not been expunged or set aside. He was given a positive character reference at his place of service.

The ruling also notes that in 2007 the man sought outpatient treatment from a narcologist for opioid and cannabinoid abuse, and was not registered with a psychiatrist. The court cited these details among the information relevant to the defendant’s character.

For unlawful entry into the vehicle, the court sentenced him to 2 years of restricted liberty; for unlawful possession of the documents, it imposed 1 year of restricted liberty. Applying the principle that the less severe sentence is absorbed by the more severe one for these two offences, the court set the combined sentence at 2 years of restricted liberty.

However, this was not his final sentence. Since the offence on Okeanivska Street was committed before the Inhulskyi District Court’s ruling of August 18, 2026, the court applied Part 4 of Article 70 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sentence under the new ruling was absorbed by the more severe previous sentence, leaving him with a final term of 5 years and 1 month in prison.

Time spent in pretrial detention from June 4, 2026 until the new ruling comes into force will count towards this sentence on a “day-for-day” basis.

The court ordered that the stolen documents, which had already been returned to their owner for safekeeping and use by the time of the ruling, remain with him. There are no court costs in this criminal proceeding.

The ruling may be appealed to the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal through the Korabelnyi District Court of Mykolaiv within 30 days of its announcement.

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