- Title: Partner of Ukraine fighter facing Russian prison sentence demands his release
- Date: 27th March 2025
- Summary: MARIUPOL, UKRAINE (FILE - RELEASED MAY 15, 2022) ( VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS OF SHOWER OF BRIGHT, WHITE MUNITIONS FALLING ON AZOVSTAL STEEL WORKS MARIUPOL, UKRAINE (FILE - MAY 11, 2022) (REUTERS) EXPLOSION AT AZOVSTAL STEEL WORKS VARIOUS OF SEVERELY DAMAGED AZOVSTAL STEEL WORKS MARIUPOL, UKRAINE (FILE - RELEASED MAY 17, 2022) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) (MU
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Azov Azovstal Mariupol Russian invasion War in Ukraine
- Location: KYIV, UKRAINE / MARIUPOL, UKRAINE / GIVEN AS MARIUPOL, UKRAINE
- City: KYIV, UKRAINE / MARIUPOL, UKRAINE / GIVEN AS MARIUPOL, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA003210627032025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Kateryna Bondarenko had little doubt that her boyfriend - a fighter with Ukraine's Azov regiment captured by the Russians in 2022 - would receive a long prison term when a military court handed down its sentence.
That did not make it any easier when the news of Oleksii Smykov's punishment - a 23-year prison term - came on Wednesday (March 26).
Bondarenko, 26, told Reuters after the sentencing that although she knew the sentence was coming, it didn't reduce the shock.
Smykov was one of 12 members of the regiment who appeared shaven-headed in court.
The defendants all received long sentences, and Russian independent media outlet Mediazona said they intended to appeal.
Bondarenko urged Ukraine's allies to put pressure on Russia to return the fighters, who were defending the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia designated the Azov regiment as a terrorist organisation and the defendants were charged with terrorist activity and violently seizing or retaining power.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, accused Russia of violating international humanitarian law because he said the men were combatants, not criminals.
When Smykov, 28, became one of the first Azov fighters to be captured, Bondarenko did not know where to turn to find out what was happening to him.
That changed after hundreds of fighters defending Mariupol surrendered in May 2022, as Russia besieged the city.
Three years later, group chats with relatives of other prisoners make up almost all of her texts.
On Wednesday, her phone buzzed with news from the trial in southern Russia.
She said he looked "sullen" in the video, not knowing that his loved ones were waiting for him, and hoping for his release.
Bondarenko said she hoped he might be included in a prisoner swap, like others that have taken place during the three-year war.
Eleven other defendants in the case on Wednesday were convicted in absentia, having already been exchanged in swaps.
While she know the conviction makes it difficult, she said Ukraine must demand the inclusion of Smykov and the other fighters in a future exchange if they have any hope of release.
(Production: Yurii Kovalenko, Andrii Pryimachenko) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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