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Russian Court Sentences 21-Year-Old Ukrainian Telegram Admin to 14 Years in Closed Trial
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A Russian military court has sentenced 21-year-old Yana Suvorova, administrator of the Telegram channel “Melitopol tse Ukraina” (“Melitopol is Ukraine”), to 14 years in prison.
She was convicted on charges of terrorism, espionage, and membership in a terrorist organization. The trial was closed to the public.
Suvorova was detained on August 20, 2023, in occupied Melitopol during coordinated FSB raids on Ukrainian journalists and bloggers. Multiple Ukrainian Telegram channels were targeted. Russian authorities claimed the channels were being used to collect intelligence.
According to the FSB, Suvorova’s activity helped guide a Ukrainian HIMARS strike on March 27, 2023. The target was a building in Melitopol used by Russian National Guard and FSB units. It was damaged. No deaths were reported.
State-run media later aired footage of Suvorova in detention. In the video, she appears visibly distressed.
“I worked in the building opposite,” Suvorova says in the footage.
“Nineteen,” she adds.
“If you’re lucky, you’ll celebrate your next birthday at thirty-two,” a male voice replies.
After her arrest, Suvorova was held in Mariupol and later transferred to SIZO-2 in Taganrog. The facility has been previously reported as a site of mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners.
Suvorova’s sentencing is part of a broader pattern of prosecutions targeting Ukrainian journalists in occupied territories. Rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), have expressed concern over what they describe as politically motivated charges and harsh detentions designed to suppress dissent.
Other figures linked to Ukrainian media outlets have faced similarly long prison terms. In September 2025, Vladyslav Gershon—also connected to the Melitopol tse Ukraina channel was sentenced to 15 years. Heorhiy Levchenko of RIA-Melitopol received 16 years from a court.
Journalist Mark Kalyush, who was also detained in 2023, was subjected to forced psychiatric treatment before being released in a prisoner exchange. He later spoke publicly about alleged beatings and psychological abuse while in Russian custody.
Recently, the Ukrainian investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info reported that journalist Anastasia Hlukhivska, who was abducted by FSB agents in August 2023, is currently being held in SIZO No. 3 in Kizel, Perm Krai—a high-security detention center in Russia known for its harsh conditions.
The facility has been linked to the deaths of Yevhen Matveyev, mayor of Dniprorudne, and Viktoria Roshchyna, a frontline journalist.
Russian authorities have not commented on the deaths.
Previously it was reported that a Russian court has handed down a severe sentence to a native of Bashkortostan on charges of state treason.
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