A 65-year-old Ukrainian teacher has been sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison after Russian authorities accused her of hiding a Ukrainian military officer in occupied Donetsk Oblast in 2022, according to RFE/RL. The officer had escaped capture during Russia's siege of Azovstal and plotted sabotage operations while in hiding.
Russian court convicts woman over sheltering Azovstal survivor
The Southern District Military Court in Russia's Rostov-on-Don sentenced Valentina Zaiarna, a teacher from the town of Amvrosiivka in Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast, to 12 years in a penal colony. The court also imposed a fine of 500,000 rubles, or around $6,300. She was convicted of participating in a terrorist organization, attempted possession of explosives, and preparing a terrorist act, RFE/RL reports, citing Mediazona.
Zaiarna provided shelter to Ukrainian officer Denys Storozhuk in the summer of 2022. Prosecutors allege the two monitored Yaroslav Anika, a so-called “Donetsk People's Republic” deputy, and ostensibly planned to blow up his car. Zaiarna allegedly received a parcel containing components of an explosive device on Storozhuk’s behalf.
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The woman denied any involvement in sabotage or terrorism. She claimed she had no knowledge of the parcel’s contents and said she was unaware that Storozhuk had participated in the defense of Azovstal or engaged in any partisan activities.
Fugitive officer lived in hiding after Mariupol siege
Storozhuk, a lieutenant colonel in Ukraine’s border guard service and head of a special operations unit in Mariupol, avoided capture in May 2022 when Russian forces took control of the city and captured other Azovstal defenders. He contacted Zaiarna after his house in Mariupol burned down and asked for help. She allowed him to stay in her home, where he allegedly remained for nearly a year.
Zaiarna said she had known him before the full-scale invasion as Dima, a border guard she had met while traveling to Mariupol, which was then under Ukrainian control, from the occupied zone to collect her mother’s pension.
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Russian security agents abducted Storozhuk in 2023 and held him in a pre-trial detention center in Donetsk. He was returned to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange in September 2024.
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In an interview after his release, Storozhuk said he carried out sabotage operations in Russian-occupied territory, including helping to blow up an ammunition depot in Amvrosiivka. However, he denied planning to attack Anika. He described the so-called “DNR” deputy as an old acquaintance and said he had hoped for his assistance, not his death.
Russian authorities sentenced Storozhuk in absentia to 22 years in a high-security penal colony.
