Russian Commander Faces Multiple Charges
Verdicts in cases including murder and cruel treatment expected in coming months.
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The Kharkiv trial of three Russian soldiers accused of murder is entering its final stages. One of the defendants - Ahmed Duduyev, a 28-year-old Russian combat vehicle commander - is also a suspect in several other war crimes cases.
Mykola Harmash, a prosecutor with the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office, said he expected the verdict in the Russian servicemen’s trial to be handed down in the first ten days of 2026.
Alongside Duduyev are Dmytro Konovnin, a native of Sukhodolsk in the Luhansk region and a serviceman of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), and Poltava native Serhii Reznik, who also serves in the de facto LPR forces. The men are accused of two murders in Izyum, Kharkiv region, in May 2022 and all face the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The case is proceeding in absentia.
The latest hearing in the case at Kharkiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District Court on November 5 lasted less than five minutes as none of the prosecution’s scheduled witnesses appeared.
“Honorable Court, it was not possible to secure the attendance of the witnesses for today’s hearing for various reasons they cited,” prosecutor Harmash told the judges. “Therefore, we request the court’s assistance in compelling their attendance at the next hearing by issuing official summonses for the prosecution to serve to these witnesses in Izyum.”
“Under these circumstances, we cannot move forward as we are at the witness examination stage,” presiding Judge Semyriad told the prosecutor. “The judicial panel notes that there are reasonable timeframes for criminal proceedings, especially in a case of this category, and we must proceed. The panel is convened to hear testimony. The court will facilitate this by providing the necessary summonses for the witnesses. Please ensure they are served.”
The defence attorneys for all three defendants, provided by the Free Legal Aid Centre, were present at the court hearing. They concurred with the court’s assessment that the hearing could not proceed without witnesses.
Three Charges
Duduyev, originally from the city of Khasavyurt and serving in the Russian army’s 27th Mechanised Brigade, is currently a defendant in two criminal proceedings for the premeditated murder of civilians under Part 2, Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine. Along with other servicemen, he is also a suspect in a case involving the cruel treatment of civilians in occupied territories under Part 1, Article 438 of the criminal code of Ukraine.
Two premeditated murder cases in Izyum have been consolidated and are now before the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kharkiv. The cases, concerning the killings of forensic medical expert Fedir Zdebskyi and entrepreneur Oleh Salyha, were merged during a preliminary hearing in March 2025.
According to the case file, on May 5, 2022, Duduyev along with Konovnin, Reznik and four unidentified soldiers arrived at the home where Salyha was living with a friend, Hennadii B.
The two men were led from the house with bags over their heads and their hands tied. The suspects took Salyha to a building at 10-H Honcharivska Square in Izyum, where they tortured and beat him. From there he was taken from the building to an unknown location. Salyha’s body was later discovered in a mass grave on Shakespeare Street and investigators believe he died as a result of the beating he received.
Additionally, the investigation states that on May 7, 2022, Duduyev killed forensic medical examiner Fedir Zdebskyi with at least one gunshot to the chest. The incident occurred at the pathology department of the Pishchanskoi Bohomateri Central Local Hospital in the city of Izyum. Zdebskyi was killed after refusing to hand over his car to the Russians and telling the accused that his presence in the city was illegal.
A third case against Duduyev, involving the cruel treatment of civilians, is currently under pre-trial investigation.
To date in the murder case, the court has examined the written evidence in the case file and has questioned the victims. The next phase, witness testimony, is now set to begin although the process has been problematic.
“The witnesses are not appearing [in court in Kharkiv]” the prosecutor said. “They are residents of the city of Izyum. The reasons given include old age and having no one to leave a young child with. Each has their own reasons, but they did not appear for the current court session. They will now be served with court summonses. This is a stronger measure of compulsion and there could be legal consequences for them.”
Harmash reported that the court needed to question 13 witnesses regarding the two murder cases of Zdebskyi and Salyha, which will take at least two to three more hearings. The prosecutor believes a verdict can be expected in the first quarter of 2026.
No Body, Still Hope
Zdebskyi’s partner Valentyna Kurylo continues to hope that he may still be alive. Present at every court hearing, Kurylo plans to appeal to the International Red Cross, which she believes can gain access to captives held in Russia. She has previously stated that Zdebskyi was officially listed as missing and his body was not found in the mass grave in Izyum.
However, the prosecutor’s office has refuted this possibility. According to prosecutors, the investigation into Zdebsky’s murder was initially opened in 2022 by the Russian occupation commandant’s office in Izyum. Investigative materials from this case were discovered in Izyum following the city’s de-occupation. It was these files that led Ukrainian authorities to Duduyev and his alleged accomplices. The case initiated by the Russians included a formal conclusion on Zdebsky’s death, and the materials contained crime scene photos of the body taken by the Russians themselves.
Furthermore, the prosecutor’s office noted that that a witness in Izyum was ordered by the Russians to examine Zdebsky’s body. The witness, who worked at the hospital’s pathology department, officially established the cause of death and the corresponding documents are part of the case file.
According to investigators, Zdebskyi’s body was transferred to Belgorod for an autopsy. At the time, there was no large-scale repatriation of the dead, so his partner did not receive his body for burial.
“Tortured With Electric Shocks”
The third war crime leveled against Duduyev and Colonel Sergey Safonov – commander of the 27th Mechanised Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces’ 1st Tank Army – is the torture of civilians in Izyum.
On October 27, 2025, Duduyev and Safonov were charged in absentia in connection with the case. They were subsequently placed on national and international wanted lists.
Harmash stated that the investigation into this part of the case had been suspended while Duduyev and Safonov were sought.
“We cannot conduct further investigative actions until they are found, so the criminal proceedings are on hold,” the prosecutor explained. “Furthermore, we have a related case currently before the court. Introducing another indictment at this stage could influence the verdict in that trial, especially since we are in the final phase of witness testimony.”
Vladyslav Abdula, a spokesperson for the Kharkiv region’s Security Service of Ukraine, told a Dumka reporter that Duduyev and Safonov were suspected of kidnapping a 40-year-old police officer in early May 2022. According to the pre-trial investigation, the officer was near a bomb shelter gathering firewood.
“At that moment, the officer was not part of any armed formation, was not involved in hostilities and was in civilian clothes and unarmed – he qualified as a civilian,” Abdula stated. “Without explanation, they tied his hands, put a bag over his head and took him to a basement they had set up as a torture chamber. For nine days, the victim was held without water, food, medical care or a toilet.
“He was beaten daily, tortured with electric shocks and hanged by the neck with a rope. They broke both bones in his arm and ruptured his eardrum. Throughout this time, the Russian torturers tried to extract information from him about the locations of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel and law enforcement officers. The victim in the case survived.”
Safonov and Duduyev have been charged in absentia under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code concerning the violation of the laws and customs of war as part of a group.
If convicted in the murder cases, Duduyev faces the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. In the third case involving the cruel treatment of civilians in Russian-occupied territories, he could be sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison.
