Yana Suvorova, an administrator of the Telegram channel Melitopol Is Ukraine who has been in Russian detention since August 2023, has been sentenced to 14 years in a low security prison. The sentence was issued by the Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don (Russia) on 23 October.
Yana Suvorova was convicted under the Russian Criminal Code articles on “organising a terrorist group and involvement in it”, “acts of terrorism,” and “espionage”. Data on the sentence was reported by the Southern District Military Court in Telegram.
The court found the Telegram channel administrator guilty of involvement in a “terrorist group as a web resource administrator” who “edited the posts, managed the subscribers, and published pro-Ukrainian content” on the channel.
Yana Suvorova was also convicted of “committing an act of terrorism.” The court claimed that Suvorova and “other members of the terrorist group collected and verified data on the location of Russian military personnel and law enforcement officers using the Telegram channel, a Telegram feedback bot, and a chat bot,” which resulted in “a missile and bomb strike targeting buildings and structures of Russia’s Federal Security Service and the Rosguard Directorate in Zaporizhzhia oblast” in February 2023.
The ruling has not yet entered into force and may be appealed in the court of appeal, the report says.
Previously
Yana Suvorova is on the Institute of Mass Information’s list of 26 Ukrainian media workers unlawfully detained by Russia.
Yana Suvorova was detained along with other channel administrators for RIA Melitopol and Melitopol Is Ukraine in August 2023. Back then, the Russian forces hacked the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian news outlet RIA Melitopol, which continuted to operate even after the occupation of Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia oblast). Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedoriv reported that several other pro-Ukraine Telegram channels that had been “restlessly reporting the terrible truth about life in the TOT and constantly being threatened by the occupiers” had been hacked as well.
Russian courts have since passed several rulings. 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.
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. He was charged under the same Russian Criminal Code articles as Yana Suvorova: 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.
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.