Ukraine has extradited a Russian soldier suspected of committing war crimes, including offenses against a citizen of Lithuania, which occurred in Melitopol in 2022. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The suspect was delivered to Lithuania on October 29, 2025.
«This is the first case since the beginning of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine where Ukraine hands over a detained Russian serviceman to another state for criminal prosecution under the principle of universal jurisdiction,» the Prosecutor's Office stated.
Through close cooperation between Ukrainian and Lithuanian law enforcement during the pre-trial investigation, it was found that from March to September 2022, Russian Armed Forces personnel, particularly from the 177th Separate Marine Infantry Regiment, were involved in organizing a filtration camp at a training base located at Melitopol military airfield.
This camp illegally detained, tortured, and humiliated civilians and prisoners of war, including a citizen of Lithuania.
In August 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces detained a senior sailor from the mentioned regiment near the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Ukrainian prosecutors, along with Lithuanian prosecutors and police, conducted over 30 investigative actions, including inspections, interrogations, and identifications. During these procedures, civilians and prisoners of war held at the filtration camp during the studied period were identified.
There was also enough evidence gathered to reasonably suspect that the detained individual was one of the Russian servicemen involved in the aforementioned crimes in Melitopol.
According to the investigation, alongside other Russian soldiers, the suspect not only guarded the unlawfully detained civilians and prisoners of war but was also involved in their beatings and torture: keeping victims in a metal safe, choking them to unconsciousness, hanging them by their tied hands, pouring cold water on them in freezing conditions, and inflicting injuries with electric shocks. Additionally, during the pre-trial investigation conducted by Lithuanian and Ukrainian law enforcement, several other Russian soldiers involved in these crimes were identified.
After completing all legal procedures, on September 8, 2025, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine made the decision to extradite the suspect, and on October 28, 2025, he was handed over to Lithuania. On October 30, the Vilnius District Court granted the Prosecutor General's Office's request to detain the suspect for three months. In Lithuania, he faces charges of war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, torture, unlawful deprivation of liberty, as well as violations of the Geneva Conventions and laws and customs of war according to Articles 100 and 103 (part 1) of the Criminal Code.
The transfer of the suspect is regarded as an extremely important precedent for effective international cooperation between prosecutorial authorities and the practical implementation of international humanitarian law in modern conditions.
These significant results of the pre-trial investigation were made possible due to successful collaboration between the parties within the framework of the joint investigation team coordinated by Eurojust. This group was established on March 25, 2022, by the Prosecutors General of Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland. Currently, seven states, Europol, and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have joined the joint investigation team.
Under Lithuanian law, the suspect faces imprisonment for a term of ten to twenty years or life imprisonment.