Connexion
Ukraine captures Russian soldier who tortured and executed Ukrainian POWs. Now he faces life in prison
A Russian soldier who executed Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kharkiv Oblast now sits in a Ukrainian jail cell. He alone was captured after Ukrainian forces wiped out his entire unit.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced charges against 36-year-old Sergey Tuzhilov, a rifleman from Russia’s 69th motorized rifle division. The case reveals the systematic nature of Russian war crimes—and occasionally, battlefield justice.
What happened in Vovchansk?
Tuzhilov participated in fighting near Vovchansk in June 2024. During an assault on a local factory, he and another Russian soldier captured three Ukrainian troops. Then they executed them.
The evidence is specific. According to the SBU investigation, Tuzhilov “personally fired a shot from his service automatic rifle into the back of the head of a bound Ukrainian soldier.” He also selected execution sites for two other prisoners and stood guard during the killings.
Before the executions? The Russians tortured their captives by tying them to posts.
How was he caught?
Ukrainian forces destroyed Tuzhilov’s unit in subsequent fighting. He was the only survivor—and became a prisoner himself. The SBU gathered evidence while he sat in custody, building a case that could send him to prison for life.
Who is Tuzhilov? A career criminal turned soldier. The SBU says he has two prior convictions for robbery and drug trafficking before joining Russia’s military.
Tuzhilov faces charges under multiple articles of Ukrainian criminal law, including war crimes committed by conspiracy and cruel treatment of prisoners combined with premeditated murder. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.
The bigger picture of POW executions
This case represents one thread in a much larger pattern. The Office of the Prosecutor General reports Russian forces have killed at least 268 Ukrainian prisoners of war since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
The numbers tell a grim story. In 2022, prosecutors documented 57 execution cases. That jumped to 149 cases in 2024. This year? Already 51 cases in just six months.
Why the increase? The pattern suggests Russian forces kill prisoners to avoid detention logistics and break Ukrainian morale.
