Ukraine has extradited a Russian soldier suspected of committing war crimes, including offenses against a Lithuanian citizen, that occurred in Melitopol in 2022. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
The suspect was transferred to Lithuania on October 29, 2025.
«This is the first instance since the onset of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine where Ukraine has handed over a detained Russian serviceman to another country for prosecution based on the principle of universal jurisdiction,» the OGP stated.
Through close collaboration between Ukrainian and Lithuanian law enforcement during the investigation, evidence was gathered indicating that from March to September 2022, personnel from the 177th Separate Marine Regiment of the Russian Armed Forces participated in the establishment of a filtration camp at a training facility in Melitopol.
This camp illegally detained, tortured, and humiliated civilians and prisoners of war, including a Lithuanian citizen.
In August 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces captured a sailor from the specified regiment near the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Ukrainian prosecutors, with the involvement of Lithuanian prosecutors and police, conducted over 30 investigative actions, including inspections, interrogations, and identifications. These actions helped to establish the identities of civilians and prisoners of war held at the filtration camp during the investigated period.
Moreover, sufficient evidence was collected to reasonably suspect that the detained individual was one of the Russian military involved in the aforementioned crimes in Melitopol.
According to the investigation, together with other Russian soldiers, the suspect not only guarded illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war but also participated in their beatings and torture: keeping victims in a metal safe, choking them until they lost consciousness, hanging them by their bound hands, dousing them with cold water in freezing conditions, and inflicting injuries using electric shock. Additionally, during the investigation, several other Russian soldiers involved in these crimes were identified by Lithuanian and Ukrainian law enforcement.
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's request for the suspect's arrest for three months. In Lithuania, the suspect faces charges of war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, including their torture, illegal deprivation of liberty, and violations of the Geneva Conventions and laws of war according to Articles 100 and 103 (part 1) of the Criminal Code.
The transfer of the suspect is seen as an extremely important precedent for effective international cooperation between prosecution bodies and practical implementation of international humanitarian law in contemporary conditions.
Such significant results of the pre-trial investigation were made possible thanks to the successful collaboration of the parties within the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), coordinated by Eurojust. This team 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 JIT.
Under Lithuanian law, the suspect faces a prison sentence of ten to twenty years or life imprisonment.
