Gapych Vladimir Vladimirovich (Gapich Volodimir Volodimirovich)

In Mariupol, occupied Donetsk region, on May 17, 2022, among the last to leave the Azovstal plant and surrender to captivity were Ukrainian citizens - 31-year-old Vladimir Gapych, 33-year-old Alexander Zhuromskas, 24-year-old Vadim Kitar, 35-year-old Alexander Kravtsov, 22-year-old Ivan Pochinok, 43-year-old Nikolai Princ, 35-year-old Vadim Fedochuk, 24-year-old Svyatoslav Shevchenko, and 49-year-old Sergey Yudin. They spent about a month in the colony in Yelnovka, and then in June 2022 they were transported to occupied Donetsk. A criminal case was initiated against the Ukrainians, the articles of the accusation under the criminal code of the DNR are unknown. Prisoners of war were accused of participating in a sabotage assault group and killing military personnel and civilians in the DNR. They were also charged with violent seizure of power, undergoing training in terrorist activities, and participating in an illegal armed formation. According to the Russian investigation, in the fall of 2017, Oleksandr Kravtsov created and led an illegal armed formation—the sabotage-assault group 'SS Medvedi'—with the aim of forcibly seizing power and changing the constitutional order on the territory of the DNR. At different times the rest of the defendants joined the group. The group members were armed, underwent military training, participated in combat operations, and carried out sabotage. In addition, from autumn 2018 to February 15, 2022, all defendants, except Yudin and Prince, underwent training to carry out terrorist activities. For three months, the court of the DNR considered the case, and the prosecutor requested the highest penalty for all nine. On September 21, 2022, Alexander Kravtsov and Sergei Yudin were released as a result of an exchange of prisoners of war. In late September, after the so-called "The referendum and the annexation of the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia changed the jurisdiction of the case and transferred it for consideration to the Southern Military District Court. On May 6, 2023, as a result of an exchange of prisoners of war, four more prisoners of war were released - Vladimir Gapych, Alexander Zhuromskhas, Vadim Kitara, and Ivan Pochinka. In June 2023, Prince, Fedochuk, and Shevchenko were taken to Rostov-on-Don, where for several months Judge Gurgen Dovlatbekyan of the Southern District Military Court repeatedly postponed the consideration of the case because he could not obtain information about the reasons for the absence of six out of nine defendants." 2. On October 27, 2025, the Southern District Military Court found the defendants guilty and sentenced Svyatoslav Shevchenko to 23 years, Andrey Fedochuk to 22 years, and Nikolai Prince to 18 years in a strict regime colony. The other Ukrainians were sentenced in absentia: Vladimir Gapych was sentenced to 24 years, Ivan Pochynok to 22 years, Alexander Zhuromskas to 23 years, Vadim Kitara to 23 years, Sergei Yudin to 17 years, and Alexander Kravtsov to 28 years. The court ruled that the sentence should be served in a strict regime colony.