Zhuk Yaroslav Pavlovich

In Melitopol, in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, on June 17, 2022, Russian security forces abducted from his home a 31-year-old local resident, Ukrainian citizen Yaroslav Zhuk. For almost a month nothing was known about him. On July 12, 2022, the appointed Russian mayor of Melitopol, Vladimir Rogov, published a video where Zhuk confesses to an assassination attempt on the official - the director of the Department of Education and Science of the Zaporizhzhia region, Elena Shapurova. She was involved in retraining teachers according to Russian standards. A criminal case was opened against the Ukrainian for an act of international terrorism. According to the Russian investigation, Zhuk drove up to the building of the local administration, threw a homemade bomb out of the window towards the official's office, and left a remote detonator nearby. Zhuk allegedly counted on a random passerby to press it. On 25 June 2024, the Southern District Military Court found Yaroslav Zhuk guilty and sentenced him to 14 years in a strict regime penal colony, with the first 4 years to be served in prison. In court, Yaroslav stated that torture and violence had been used against him. On April 23, 2025, the Appellate Military Court left the sentence unchanged.