Russian Soldier Appeals Life Sentence for Murder
Serviceman confessed to the crime but now hopes to secure a lighter punishment.
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Russian Soldier Appeals Life Sentence for Murder
Serviceman confessed to the crime but now hopes to secure a lighter punishment.
A 21-year-old Russian rifleman has appealed his life sentence for the murder of two civilians in the Kharkiv region in the autumn of 2024.
Artem Kulikov was taken prisoner shortly after the killings in the village of Petropavlivka, Kupiansk district and remains in Ukrainian detention.
Kulikov, call sign Dukh (Ghost), was serving in Russia’s 23rd Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 6th Combined Arms Army when he entered the village as part of a renewed Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region in October 2024.
According to the investigation, on October 6, 2024, Kulikov and an accomplice known by the call sign Kruglyi (Round) seized a house in Petropavlivka.
Two local residents then arrived at the property, apparently unaware that Russian servicemen were inside. The men were threatened at gunpoint, bound and interrogated. Later, a third local entered the house and suffered the same treatment.
“He escaped, but we were unable to speak with him. Later, he was killed in the same village, most likely in a drone strike. His body was evacuated and buried,” said Spartak Borysenko, head of the War Crimes Department at the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
The remaining two Ukrainian men were executed by Kulikov on orders from his commander, call sign Grif.
“A sweep of the village was underway, with active combat operations taking place, and Kulikov needed to relocate,” Borysenko said. “He received the order and shot the two civilian men. As he recounted, he entered the room where they were held and fired shots from an AK-74 assault rifle at the two men, who died instantly from their wounds.”
One of the victims was named as Yevhen (Zhenya) Hulak, 52. His mother Svitlana Ryzhova told IWPR that she had evacuated from Petropavlivka in 2023. Her son, however, refused to leave, staying behind to tend to their farm and assist neighbours.
“I spoke to him just a few days before he died,” the 77-year-old recalled. “I told him, ‘Get out of there - why are you still sitting around?’ And he replied so cheerfully, ‘Everything will be fine, Mom. Don’t worry.’ Then I lost contact with him for a long time. Finally, the neighbours called and told me that Zhenya had been killed.”
Kulikov is from the town of Pavlovo in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. Before being deployed to the war in Ukraine, he was serving a prison sentence in a Russian penal colony for robbery and theft, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reports. While incarcerated, he was offered the chance to sign a contract with the Russian army.
“He deliberately signed a contract to avoid punishment and knowingly set out to kill Ukrainians,” Borysenko said. “He understood exactly where he was going and why – why he had ended up in the war – and as a result, he coldly carried out the order to murder civilians.”
When Ukrainian forces entered the village they captured Kulikov, while his accomplice was killed in the ensuing firefight.
“The fate of Grif remains unknown; we are trying to identify him. Kulikov only communicated with him via radio and knew only the call sign,” Borysenko said.
A shell subsequently struck the murder scene, sparking a fire that destroyed the bodies of the victims.
“Only one was identified via DNA procedure as the bodies were severely charred,” Borysenko continued. “We located the house and the remains of the bodies, but the DNA procedure failed to yield a profile. They were identified based on witness and victim testimonies confirming that they lived and were present in the house.”
Kulikov himself confessed to the crime. In footage of an investigative reenactment released by the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, he described how he gunned down two unarmed civilians:
“When I was in the house, I killed two civilians,” he said. “I approached the doorway, aimed the barrel toward the exit where they were sitting and fired about a dozen rounds. Then I heard their silhouettes collapse. After that, I turned to Kruglyi, who was standing by the window and handed him the rifle.”
During Kulikov’s interrogation, it emerged that Russian military command routinely issued orders to kill civilians in Ukraine’s occupied territories, according to the Security Service of Ukraine.
In August 2025 the Osnovianskyi District Court in Kharkiv sentenced Kulikov to life. He subsequently filed an appeal through his state-appointed lawyer.
“He is appealing the verdict specifically with regard to the sentence imposed, in an effort to secure a lighter punishment than life imprisonment. We will insist that the first-instance verdict stand and that the punishment handed down to Kulikov remain in force,” Borysenko said.
Kulikov’s defence attorney, Lina Dmitrieva, declined to explain the reasons for the appeal or comment on the case details.
“My client has not given me permission to speak with the press. You will hear my position and his in court in April, if the hearing goes ahead and if my client does not request a closed trial,” she said.
Ryzhova came to a court hearing in the hope of confronting Kulikov, but the session was postponed.
“I wanted to see this young man,” she told IWPR. “He’s only 21. Why did he do it? As for the life sentence he received, I have a lot of thoughts on the matter. On one hand, I feel sorry for him - he’s so young to spend the rest of his life behind bars. On the other hand, I wonder why I should pity him when no one pitied me or my son,” she said.
Until a decision is reached, Kulikov will remain in a pre-trial detention centre, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. Kulikov is hoping for a prisoner exchange, which can only take place after the appellate court’s ruling.
“This will be decided by the Coordination Centre for the Treatment of Prisoners of War,” Borysenko said.
Ryzhova, who now lives in a Kharkiv dormitory with other displaced people, said that she would not oppose the exchange.
