Ukraine has handed over to Lithuania an individual suspected of committing war crimes, including against a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, which were committed in Melitopol in 2022 during the temporary occupation of this Ukrainian city. The suspect was delivered to Lithuania and transferred on October 29, 2025.

This is the first case since the beginning of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine in which Ukraine has transferred a detained Russian serviceman to another state for criminal prosecution under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

As a result of close cooperation between Ukrainian and Lithuanian law enforcement during the pre-trial investigation, data was collected indicating that from March to September 2022, servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, including personnel from the 177th Separate Marine Infantry Regiment of the Caspian Flotilla, participated in the organization of a filtration camp at a training base located on the territory of the Melitopol military airfield. In this camp, civilians and prisoners of war, including a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, were illegally detained, tortured, and humiliated.

In August 2023, the Armed Forces of Ukraine detained a senior sailor from the mentioned regiment near the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region. Ukrainian prosecutors, with the participation of prosecutors and police from Lithuania, conducted over 30 investigative actions, including inspections, interrogations, and identifications. During these procedural actions, civilians and prisoners of war who were held in the filtration camp during the investigated period were identified. Sufficient evidence was also collected to reasonably suspect that the detained individual is one of the Russian military personnel who participated in the aforementioned crimes in Melitopol.

According to the investigation, together with other Russian military personnel, the suspect not only guarded the illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war but also participated in their beatings and torture: he kept victims in a metal safe, strangled them until they lost consciousness, hung them by their tied hands, doused them with cold water in freezing temperatures, and inflicted injuries using electric shock. In addition to this individual, several other Russian military personnel involved in the mentioned crimes were identified during the pre-trial investigation conducted 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 request of the prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office for the arrest of the suspect for a period of three months. In Lithuania, this individual has been charged with war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, their torture, illegal deprivation of liberty, as well as violations of the Geneva Conventions and the laws and customs of war in accordance with Articles 100 and 103 (part 1) of the Criminal Code.

The transfer of the suspect is regarded as an extremely important precedent for effective international cooperation between prosecutorial authorities and the practical implementation of international humanitarian law norms in contemporary conditions.

Such significant results of the pre-trial investigation were made possible by the successful cooperation of the parties within the framework of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the activities of which are coordinated by Eurojust. This group 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.

From Ukraine, the JIT includes prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General, investigators from the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine, who, together with their Lithuanian colleagues, ensured the collection of evidence that served as the basis for bringing the mentioned Russian serviceman to criminal responsibility.

According to Lithuanian legislation, the suspect faces imprisonment for a term of ten to twenty years or life imprisonment.