Russian Colonel General Sentenced for Invasion of Kherson Region
Court found 66-year-old directly responsible for the seizure of territories where numerous war crimes were committed.
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A Russian Colonel General has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the 2022 invasion and occupation of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
The Kherson City Court found Igor Turchenyuk, the commander of the South Group of Forces of the Russian National Guard, guilty of waging a war of aggression as part of a conspiracy, under Part 2 of Article 437 of the criminal code of Ukraine.
The January 14 hearing was reported by the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) citing a court verdict and other sources.
The Kherson court found the 66-year-old directly responsible for the seizure of Ukrainian territories where numerous war crimes were committed
Under his leadership, Russian National Guard servicemen participated in violent suppression of peaceful protests in the Kherson region. Unarmed demonstrators were treated with extreme brutality, detained, tortured and killed.
Turchenyuk authorised the setup of checkpoints and organised filtration activities, during which officials confiscated vehicles, performed personal searches and illegally imprisoned civilians. The court concluded that Turchenyuk’s actions demonstrated a deliberate intent to wage aggressive military action in Ukraine.
According to the CIJ, Turchenyuk is originally from Osh, Kyrgyzstan, and was appointed to his current post by Russian president Vladimir Putin in August 2021. According to Russian media reports, Turchenyuk still held this position as of September 2025.
Turchenyuk was the commander of Russia’s occupying forces in Crimea in 2014. He has been sanctioned by Canada, Switzerland, the UK and Australia.
Occupation and Terror
On February 24, 2022, units under Turchenyuk’s command illegally crossed the administrative boundary with Crimea in the areas of Chonhar, Chaplynka and Kalanchak and began advancing toward Kherson.
The court established that the invasion of the Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions was carried out with the participation of the Russian National Guard and the South group of forces, which was tasked with executing special assignments.
According to the verdict, “servicemen of the South group of forces, while performing their duties, committed large-scale attacks on the civilian population and their property in the city of Kherson and the Kherson region. These attacks resulted in the death and injury of over 2,000 people, including women and children, as well as the destruction and damage of civilian facilities”.
Servicemen dispersed peaceful protests using brutal treatment and unlawfully detaining their unarmed participants. They maintained a system of illegal detention for civilians, accompanied by inhuman treatment, torture and murder.
On March 16, 2022, the Kherson State Maritime Academy was one of the first buildings in the city to be seized by Russian forces.
“A significant amount of military equipment and personnel arrived at the academy without any warning to its leadership,” the academy’s rector testified in court. “When I was summoned that day, I saw two armoured personnel carriers and a huge number of fully equipped Russian soldiers with weapons at the entrance.
“About an hour or two after I arrived, around forty military trucks carrying personnel and some kind of equipment showed up. They positioned themselves in the main academic building, set up what looked like antennas and began establishing communications.”
The prosecutor stated in court that Turchenyuk’s guilt had been proven and that the evidence presented was relevant, admissible and credible. According to the prosecutor, aggravating factors include the commission of the crime by a premeditated group, its exceptional severity and the nature of the offence, which directly targeted peace, human security and the international legal order.
The prosecutor explained that open-source intelligence played a crucial role in solving the crime. This included social media, publications, photos and video materials where Russian Federation servicemen documented their own presence, actions and participation in combat operations.
Additionally, investigators used documents which were thoroughly analysed with the help of specialists as well as witness testimony.
As the trial was conducted in the defendant’s absence, the prosecution took all possible measures to inform the suspect and establish his whereabouts. However, Turchenyuk remains on national and international wanted lists.
Turchenyuk’s state-appointed defender argued against the charges. According to the defence, the provisions of Part 2 of Article 28 of the criminal code of Ukraine require prior conspiracy to commit the incriminated offences, yet no individuals other than Turchenyuk were allegedly named in the indictment.
The defender also pointed out that the indictment failed to include the personal details of the victims – despite mentioning harm to over 2,000 people – and did not establish the total amount of damages caused.
The defendant’s lawyer also challenged the credibility of experts who concluded which military units Turchenyuk had commanded.
However, the court found the charge of waging a war of aggression to be fully proven.
Turchenyuk’s sentence will begin on the day he is actually detained for its enforcement, once the verdict comes into legal force. The verdict itself can be appealed within 30 days of its announcement.
The Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office’s press service said that that the court verdict was of fundamental importance for establishing judicial precedent in cases concerning the crime of aggression and war crimes.
“It demonstrates the real possibility of holding criminally liable not only the direct perpetrators but also the senior military leadership of the aggressor state – the individuals who made operational decisions to conduct hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, particularly in the Kherson region,” a statement read. “Such verdicts shatter the illusion of impunity and confirm that accountability for aggression and war crimes is inevitable, regardless of position or rank.”
A similar sentence was previously handed down to Vladimir Spiridonov, a former first deputy commander of the Southern District of Russian National Guard forces. On September 15, 2025, the Kherson City Court found him guilty in absentia of waging a war of aggression as part of a conspiracy. The verdict has since come into legal force.
Spiridonov was the commander of the forces that occupied the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. He also organised the repression of local residents and ordered the dispersal of protest rallies in Kherson.
