15 years in prison for state treason: an engineer at "Zorya"-"Mashproekt" passed data to the Russian Federation about air defense systems, equipment, and defense contracts

The court found guilty of state treason a 58-year-old resident of Mykolaiv Oblast who worked as a lead design engineer at the Mykolaiv state enterprise “Zorya”-“Mashproekt”. The man was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern Region. According to the court decision, the man in July 2024 voluntarily agreed to cooperate with a representative of the aggressor state, and already in August–September 2024 he provided information that could have been used to plan strikes and weaken the defensive capability of Mykolaiv and the region.

According to the prosecutor’s office, for concealment the man and his Russian handler used the messenger Telegram, as well as a specially configured digital communication channel with an automatic message deletion function after reading.

During cooperation with a representative of the Russian Federation, as established by prosecutors, the convicted carried out assigned tasks and transmitted information about the locations of air defense units, servicemen of the special transport service and other military formations.

In addition, according to the case materials, the engineer reported on the locations of military equipment and ammunition depots in Mykolaiv and the region, critical infrastructure facilities, as well as the execution of state defense orders at the defense-industrial complex enterprise “Zorya”-“Mashproekt”.

The prosecutor’s office noted that the transmitted information could have been used by the Russian side to plan missile and drone strikes and to weaken the region’s defense capabilities.

The court qualified the man’s actions under part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — state treason committed under martial law.

Special attention in the court decision was given to the physical evidence in the case. According to the text of the Ingulskyi District Court of Mykolaiv, the convict was found to have, among other things, a significant amount of Russian rubles. In total, law enforcement officers seized 80,160 rubles. The items of evidence also included several mobile phones, bank cards and a computer.

The convicted is currently in custody. At the same time, the court’s sentence has not yet come into legal force.

For Mykolaiv the case has particular significance because of the nature of the information that, according to the court’s findings, was passed to the Russian side: it concerns not only military facilities but also data regarding defense contracts of the enterprise “Zorya”-“Mashproekt”, which operates in the defense-industrial complex sector. Previously we wrote:

• While the plant barely survives the war: the head of “Zorya” declared housing in Spain and million-dollar incomes
• Scandal at “Zorya”: 1.4 billion vanished through offshores — the investigation involved half the world
• Embezzlement of UAH 1.4 billion from SE “Zorya”-“Mashproekt”: investigation completed
• Former executives of Mykolaiv’s “Zorya”-“Mashproekt” were notified of suspicion over the appropriation of UAH 1.32 billion
• NABU carried out searches at the former director of Mykolaiv’s “Zorya”