Russian forces in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia oblast continue to use court rulings against Heorhiy Levchenko and Vladyslav Hershon, administrators of two Melitopol-based pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels, to intimidate Ukrainians living in the area, reports Natalya Vyhovska, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Zaporizhzhia oblast who monitored local Russian Telegram channels.
In early October, a month after Russian courts passed the verdicts sentencing the two men to imprisonment, pro-occupation Telegram channels made multiple posts about the topic. The posts featured clips of the detained Vladyslav Hershon “confessing” to his crimes.
One of such posts with the footage was posted by the Zaporizhzhia collaborator Volodymyr Rogov on his personal channel. The post says that “former administrators of anti-Russian social media communities were sentenced to 15 and 16 years in high-security prison for treason, espionage, and terrorism.” Rogov names the convicted administrators, claims that Heorhiy Levchenko is a Russian citizen, and confirms that the Russian forces have appropriated RIA Melitopol from Ukrainian owners. He alleges that Vladyslav Hershon was helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces aim their strikes and promotes the narrative that “their activities were criminal in nature and have nothing to do with journalism.”
A video released by Russia’s FSB shows Vladyslav’s detention. He is half-dressed, face down, handcuffed. Then, the IMI representative says, the video cuts to an out-of-context “confession” by Vladyslav, who looks exhausted and has a noticeable nervous tic in his left shoulder. Vladyslav Hershon says, “My work as the administrator of the Telegram channel consisted of me receiving people… And they also wrote about the movement of equipment, but they wrote…” He is interrupted by a voice saying, “So the chat was gathering information about the movement of equipment?” “Yes,” he says, shrugging. After that, the video cuts off.
Besides Rogov, the post was shared by the Telegram channel Za!TV (part of the propaganda holding Za!Media), the Telegram channel of the propaganda outlet Zaporozhskoye Agentstvo Novostey, and the Telegram channel Na Samom Dele v Zaporozhye. The audience of all the channels who shared the video and the post is 209 thousand subscribers in total.
Previously
On 3 September 2025, the Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don (Russia) sentenced Vladyslav Hershon, an administrator of the Telegram channel Melitopol is Ukraine who was detained by Russian forces in 2023, to 15 years in prison. The case against Vladyslav was opened in May 2025. He was charged under three articles of the Russian Criminal Code: espionage; organising a terrorist association and involvement in it; act of terrorism committed by a group of persons upon prior conspiracy or by an organised group. The prosecutor requested 18 years in prison for Vladyslav Hershon. The case was tried in camera due to “the case files containing state secrets.”
On 2 September 2025, the Russian-installed court of Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia oblast) sentenced Heorhiy Levchenko, the administrator of the Telegram channel RIA Melitopol who was detained by Russian forces back in 2023, to 16 years in a high security prison. Heorhiy was found guilty of high treason and online calls for extremism.
Vladyslav Hershon and Heorhiy Levchenko are on the Institute of Mass Information’s list of 26 Ukrainian media workers unlawfully detained by Russia.
