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Ukraine Imposes Sanctions on Russian Judges for Illegal Sentencing of POWs
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![Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko]( "Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko")
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Ukraine has introduced new sanctions targeting Russian judges who have issued illegal sentences against Ukrainian prisoners of war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the decrees to implement the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, which also extends existing restrictions on several Russian companies.
The sanctions list includes 41 judges, consisting of 38 Russian citizens and three collaborators, according to the President’s Office on March 10.
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These individuals issued illegal arrest warrants for prisoners of war and have actively supported or justified Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
One specific judge on the list reportedly sentenced nine Ukrainian prisoners of war within a single week based on fabricated terrorism charges.
The restrictions also cover judges who made illegal rulings against public figures, activists, and journalists based on their political or religious beliefs.
Furthermore, the list includes former Ukrainian citizens serving in temporarily occupied Donetsk who sentenced three international volunteers—two British citizens and one Moroccan—to death for defending Ukraine as part of the Armed Forces.
In addition to the individual listings, the President signed a decree extending sanctions against 11 Russian companies. These measures were originally introduced in 2021 and 2023.
Since the initial implementation, three of the companies on the list have been completely liquidated which the President’s Office noted as evidence of the effectiveness of the sanctions.
The corporate package includes an enterprise involved in the repair and maintenance of aviation equipment, specifically Ka and Mi type helicopters.
It also targets a company specializing in the development and production of drones, as well as firms operating illegally in the temporarily occupied Crimea that were involved in the construction of the Kerch Bridge .
Ukrainian authorities report that over 8,000 soldiers and thousands of civilians remain in Russian captivity, with systematic torture documented in more than 95% of cases.
Previously, reports emerged that Russia had pressured Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Zakarpattia region to film propaganda videos praising the aggressor state as a mandatory condition for their transfer to Hungary.
The Strategic Communications and Information Security Center detailed the account of a recently liberated serviceman who was offered an exchange to Hungary only if he agreed to disparage the Ukrainian government.
In response, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Kyiv had received no prior information regarding these specific transfers and criticized both Moscow and Budapest for exploiting the sensitive issue of prisoners of war for political leverage.
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