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Russian-Occupied Berdiansk Court Jails 74-Year-Old Woman for 14 Years Over $34 Ukraine Army Donation
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A court in Russian-occupied Berdiansk has sentenced a 74-year-old woman to 14 years in prison for financially supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine after she transferred UAH 1,500 (approximately $34) to the Ukrainian military.
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According to Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe on August 26, the woman, born in 1952, was convicted of high treason over the donation, which investigators said was made through a Ukrainian banking application in 2024.
Russian authorities alleged that following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the woman developed what they described as a “persistent negative attitude toward representatives of Russian state authorities.”
Investigators said she subsequently transferred UAH 1,500 to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russian law enforcement authorities claimed that the payment harmed Russia’s security and formed the basis for the treason charge.
On February 27, 2022, Russian forces entered Berdiansk, a port city on the Sea of Azov in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, as they advanced through southern Ukraine during the opening days of the full-scale invasion.
Russian troops subsequently seized the city’s administrative buildings and established control over Berdiansk. Local authorities refused to cooperate with the occupying forces, while the city’s police department was disbanded and public transportation was suspended.
In another case, Russian FSB officers detained 34-year-old Ukrainian Liudmyla Kolesnikova while she was attending her mother’s funeral in temporarily occupied Yalta, Crimea, later accusing her of treason over a $27 contribution to Ukrainian defense efforts.
Kolesnikova, who had lived in Ireland since 2022, was held incommunicado for three months. She was accused of “treason through espionage” for purchasing two “Russian warship” NFT stamps sold to raise funds for Ukrainian drone production. The FSB reportedly discovered the transaction after accessing her phone. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
In 2025, Russian courts have also handed down lengthy sentences in other treason cases. Nuclear engineer Ruslan Shadiyev was sentenced to 18 years in a maximum-security penal colony after being convicted of “state treason” and “assisting terrorist activity,”
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