Detention: On June 7, 2024, Russian occupation forces detained Enerhodar resident and Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employee Ruslan Lavryk. Initially, he faced multiple administrative arrests for alleged curfew violations, followed by a criminal case accusing him of 'state treason' and 'espionage.'

Sentence: On October 14, 2025, the so-called Zaporizhzhia Regional Court, established by the Russian occupation authorities, sentenced Ruslan Lavryk to 16 years in a high-security penal colony. On January 28, 2026, the Moscow appellate court upheld this sentence.

Ruslan Yuriyovych Lavryk was born on September 24, 1970. He spent most of his life in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia region, working as a radio and television engineer at the Center for Dispatch and Technological Management in the Energy Systems of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Enerhodar and the Zaporizhzhia NPP came under Russian occupation. The seizure of Europe's largest nuclear power plant was unprecedented in the history of nuclear energy. Plant employees faced constant pressure from the occupation administration, which demanded cooperation and transition to structures controlled by the state corporation 'Rosatom.' Many Ukrainian specialists refused to collaborate, leading to persecution, abductions, unlawful detentions, and fabricated criminal cases.

Ruslan Lavryk is among the ZNPP employees who became victims of such repressions. According to human rights defenders and Enerhodar local authorities, on June 7, 2024, Russian forces detained him at a dacha near the village of Blahovishchenka, about 16 kilometers from Enerhodar. The formal reason was an alleged curfew violation. However, it soon became clear that this was another politically motivated persecution of a Ukrainian citizen in occupied territory.

After his detention, Ruslan Lavryk was held in various places of confinement in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. According to human rights defenders, before the criminal case, he was subjected to at least eight so-called administrative arrests.

Later, the occupation authorities accused Ruslan Lavryk of allegedly financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine and providing Ukrainian intelligence with information on the location and movement of Russian troops. Russian investigators claimed he transferred funds to support the AFU and shared details about occupation forces. There is no independent confirmation of these allegations.

During his captivity, Ruslan Lavryk underwent numerous transfers. Human rights defenders report he was moved between different detention facilities in Enerhodar, Melitopol, Yakymivka, Vesele, Pryazovske, Mariupol, Donetsk, Simferopol, Krasnodar, Volgograd, Saratov, Tambov, and Tyumen.

After prolonged captivity and endured torture, he suffers from serious heart problems and requires urgent medical care. It is known that the conditions for Ukrainian civilian detainees in Russian places of confinement often do not meet international standards, and access to necessary treatment is frequently limited or entirely absent.

Information used from open sources: ZMINA, Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Suspilne Zaporizhzhia.

Photo: Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

Last updated: 17.07.2026.