A man who guarded a Russian-run prison in occupied Kherson, where captured members of the Ukrainian resistance were held, has been sentenced to eight years. After Ukraine retook the city, the collaborator tried to disappear into a Ukrainian army unit before the Security Service of Ukraine caught him, the SBU said on Telegram.

A real prison term for a collaborator is less common than it sounds. Ukraine has opened hundreds of collaboration cases since 2022, but many have halted due to their location in occupied territories or Russia.

He guarded the occupiers' prison

After Russian forces seized Kherson in 2022, the man agreed to serve as a "junior inspector" in the administration of a Russian prison set up in the regional capital, the SBU said. In the post, he guarded the cells and the facility's perimeter, which the occupiers used to hold people from the resistance movement in south of Ukraine. Kherson's right bank was under Russian control from March until Ukraine liberated it in November. The left bank remains under occupation.

He hid inside the army

When the right bank was freed, the collaborator initially stayed put, staying in his apartment, the SBU said. He then mobilized into a Ukrainian military unit, where the service said he hoped to lie low. Instead, SBU officers detained him in March 2025 at one of the army's training centers.

A real term is the exception

The court found him guilty of collaboration under the criminal code's article on the offense and, taking his cooperation with investigators into account, sentenced him to eight years, with a ban of up to ten years on holding posts in state bodies or law enforcement.

The case was built by the SBU in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts in cooperation with the National Police, under the Mykolaiv specialized defense prosecutor's office.