Detention: On April 4 (or April 8, according to other sources), 2023, in the temporarily occupied Melitopol, Russian security forces abducted 44-year-old local resident and volunteer Yuliya Koveshnikova when she left home to top up her account. Her whereabouts were concealed for 8 months: she was held without legal status in an earthen 'pit' near Melitopol, later in the Mariupol pre-trial detention centre, and then transferred to occupied Crimea.

Sentence: On June 7, 2024, the so-called Zaporizhzhia Regional Court, with the participation of the 'Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Crimea' representing the state prosecution, sentenced Yuliya Koveshnikova to 13 years in a general regime correctional colony under Article 276 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code ('espionage'). The sentence took effect, and she was unlawfully transferred to the Samara region of Russia.

Yuliya Oleksandrivna Koveshnikova was born on September 2, 1978. Before the full-scale invasion, she led a normal civilian life in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, raising her daughter Anastasia. After February 24, 2022, when Russian forces rapidly occupied the city, Yuliya made the conscious and difficult decision to stay at home.

Living deep in occupied territory, she did not hide her strong pro-Ukrainian stance. She actively engaged in volunteer work, assisting local residents and independently searching for missing Ukrainian servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, trying to provide their families with any information through open sources. Her husband was officially serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine at that time, which automatically made Yuliya a high-risk target for the occupiers' repressive bodies.

According to her daughter Anastasia, they kept in touch daily. During their last conversation, Yuliya said she was going to the local market to shop and top up her mobile account. After that, contact with her was lost forever. Relatives, at Anastasia's request, checked her home and found that Yuliya had disappeared without a trace.

For over 7 months, the family was in an information vacuum, not knowing if Yuliya was alive. Only later, thanks to relatives of other Ukrainian civilian hostages, were they able to piece together the chronology of her ordeal. Russian security forces abducted her in the middle of the street, put a bag over her head, and took her to an unknown location. In the first months, she was held in terrible, inhumane conditions near Melitopol. Due to constant cold, hunger, and abuse, Yuliya underwent catastrophic physical changes—her weight dropped critically, and she slimmed down from a size 54 to a size 40.

According to the FSB, Yuliya allegedly collected information from June 2022 to January 2023 about the locations, personnel numbers, and movements of military equipment and weapons of the so-called 'Temporary Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Zaporizhzhia region'. The investigation claimed she sent this data to her husband via messengers.

The trial was held entirely in closed session. Yuliya Koveshnikova categorically denied her guilt in espionage. Despite this, the court completely ignored her statements and claims of torture, relying solely on 'confessional testimonies' extracted from her immediately after the abduction, when she was under complete control without access to independent lawyers. Yuliya is hopeful for international pressure, publicity, and her inclusion in the nearest lists for prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia.

Information used from open sources: ZMINA, Center for Investigative Journalism.

Photo: Center for Investigative Journalism.

Update date: 11.07.2026.