Ukrainian Serhiy Lytvynov, who was sentenced to prison term in Russia on trumped-up charges and transferred to Ukraine to serve his sentence, and who was pardoned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the day before, has been released from Dykanka penal colony No. 12 in Kharkiv region.

"Serhiy Lytvynov has been released from the Dykanka penal facility," wrote Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine Serhiy Petukhov on his Facebook page on Saturday.

Earlier on Friday, July 12, Petukhov said that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had signed decree No. 517/2019 of July 11, 2019, pardoning Serhiy Lytvynov.

As reported, Lytvynov was accused of murder of several civilians in the territory of Luhansk region as part of the Dnipro battalion and using prohibited means and methods of warfare in armed conflict, but these facts were not confirmed.

Lytvynov was also charged with robbery. Russian prosecutors claimed that in the summer of 2014, Lytvynov, in collusion with two Ukrainian servicemen, had committed a robbery with Kalashnikov assault rifle on a Russian citizen. The offenders allegedly stole two cars belonging to the victim and injured him.

On April 20, 2016, a court of Rostov Region (Russian Federation) sentenced Lytvynov to 8.5 years in a penal colony.