Ukrainian woman convicted in Rostov-on-Don for serving in Ukrainian Armed Forces

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found a Ukrainian citizen who served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2018 to be a member of a terrorist organization.

The convicted Ukrainian citizen Elena Ipatova is 54 years old. The woman was detained on March 14 and arrested, but after April 2 she was released from the pretrial detention center on her own recognizance. After the verdict was announced, Ipatova was taken into custody in the courtroom.

Ipatova was charged with participating in a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the court sentenced her to five years and two months in a general regime penal colony, Mediazona reported today, citing the court's press service*.

According to the DPR prosecutor's office, Ipatova served as a medical worker in the separate assault battalion "Aidar" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for several months - from January 2018 to the spring of the same year; in Russia, this unit is declared a terrorist organization.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has been searching for Ipatova as a missing person in the Luhansk region since February 20, 2025; her wanted card is available on the department's website.

* are included in the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.