Kharkiv resident sentenced to 15 years in prison for correcting mass UAV attack in June last year

A court has passed a guilty verdict on a 49-year-old Kharkiv resident who corrected a mass Russian drone attack on June 5 last year, which injured 18 people.

"The court found him guilty of high treason committed under martial law (Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property," the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reports.

According to the prosecution, in May last year, the accused established a steady connection via Telegram with a serviceman of a separate special forces brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and, acting on his instructions, corrected air strikes on Kharkiv. Almost every day, the man rode a bicycle around the city looking for the locations of personnel and military equipment of the Defense Forces. He sent the collected information to the Russian special forces operative in the form of text messages and Google Maps markers.

In addition, on the instructions of the Russian operative, the Kharkiv resident collected and sent him information regarding the consequences of the mass drone attack on the night of June 5.

During the court hearing, the accused partially pleaded guilty. He claimed that he did not know his interlocutor was a representative of the Russian Federation.

However, the court ruled that the evidence provided by the prosecutor’s office was more substantiated and issued a guilty verdict.

As reported, on the night of June 5, 2025, Russian troops launched a mass strike on Kharkiv with Geran-2 type drones. Residential buildings, a lyceum, a shop, and cars were damaged. Eighteen people were injured, including children.