A Russian military court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced two Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Azov Regiment to 17 and 20 years in strict-regime penal colonies. Among the charges are participation in a terrorist organization and undergoing training in terrorist activities, per Mediazona.
The charges stem from the POWs’ service in Azov, which Russia’s Supreme Court designated a terrorist organization on 2 August 2022, three months after Mukhin’s May 2022 capture during the Mariupol defense.
Russia’s prosecution of Ukrainian POWs for participation in hostilities violates Article 99 of the Third Geneva Convention, which prohibits prosecuting POWs for acts that were not prohibited under domestic or international law at the time of commission.
The sentences got 29-year-old Dmytro Lebedev and 45-year-old Vasyl Mukhin, who joined Azov in 2015 and were captured during the May 2022 Mariupol defense.
Southern District Military Court continues batch prosecutions of captured Azov fighters
The court in Rostov-on-Don has become Russia’s primary venue for Azov POW prosecutions. Throughout 2025 and 2026, the court has sentenced dozens of Azov POWs to 13-23 years in strict-regime colonies in batch trials throughout 2025 and 2026.
The court has continued issuing sentences in smaller batches throughout 2025 and 2026, including three POWs sentenced to 5.5, 18, and 19 years in March 2026 and two POWs sentenced to 18 years each in April 2026, per Ukrainska Pravda.
Defendants in the March 2025 batch case told the court the charges required no evidence beyond the four letters of the Azov regiment’s name. One Azov POW, Oleksandr Ishchenko, died at the Rostov pre-trial detention center from what Russian authorities described as a closed blunt chest injury.
Azov Regiment defended Mariupol before becoming National Guard special forces brigade
The Azov Regiment was founded in May 2014 as a volunteer battalion to defend Ukraine against Russian-backed forces in Donbas, becoming part of Ukraine’s National Guard in November 2014.
The unit played a central role in defending Mariupol against Russian forces from February to May 2022, with most surviving Azov fighters captured following the surrender of the Azovstal steel plant on 16-20 May 2022.
Russia has invested heavily in framing Azov as a “neo-Nazi” organization to justify its 2022 full-scale war, with the Russian Supreme Court’s terrorism designation forming part of that framing. The US Department of State cleared Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov of all training and weapons restrictions in 2024 following Leahy Law vetting, per The Washington Post.
Azov now operates as the 12th Special Purpose Brigade Azov under Ukraine’s National Guard under Colonel Denys “Redis” Prokopenko.
About the Author
