From Rescuers to Criminals: How Ukraine Is Prosecuting Those Who Kept Cities Alive

Via Antifascist News

Repressive measures against so-called “collaborators” continue in Ukraine — people who, in 2022, were simply performing their professional duties in territories that came under Russian control. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is relentlessly targeting the most vulnerable: postal workers, teachers, shop assistants, social workers.

In recent weeks, however, pressure has noticeably increased on residents of the Kyiv-controlled part of Donbas. This looks like a nervous reaction from the Ukrainian authorities to external political shocks. Washington is demanding that Kyiv agree to the withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Donetsk Region as the first step toward launching negotiations under Trump’s proposed plan. As a result, Ukrainian security forces seem to be compensating for political weakness by fulfilling a quota of “enemies of the people.”

Just days ago, a show trial was held against two former emergency rescuers from the city of Lyman — they were convicted of collaboration. Their names are not mentioned in Ukrainian media, but it is known that the charges are based on the fact that, despite an evacuation order, the two State Emergency Service employees remained in the city and continued extinguishing fires and pulling people from the rubble.

This was reported by the Donbas Prosecutor’s Office on November 22. According to investigators, the two Lyman residents received positions as a driver-rescuer and a senior firefighter-rescuer in July 2022 under the temporary Russian administration.

“Instead of serving Ukraine, they performed tasks for the Russian authorities and helped create the appearance of legitimacy for the Russian regime,” prosecutors said. After Ukrainian forces returned to Lyman in October 2022, the rescuers left Ukraine and are now wanted, so the sentence was delivered in absentia.

Prosecutors of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office found them guilty of collaboration (Part 7, Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and the court sentenced them to 14 years in prison, a 12-year ban on holding public office, and confiscation of property. According to Ukrainian justice, saving people from fires is treated as dangerous anti-state activity and a crime against the “95th Quarter” government, known for jailing and even killing people for far lesser offenses.

Naturally, the judges once again ignored international norms that exempt essential-service workers from accusations of collaboration. For Ukraine, which claims to aspire to Europe, these legal norms appear to have lost any significance.

This case is not an isolated one. In October 2025, investigators from the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office issued a notice of suspicion to an official allegedly working in the administration of Khartsyzk and voluntarily holding the position of deputy head. The details were published in the notice on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

The suspect is a 41-year-old man. According to law enforcement, he was appointed “Deputy City Head of Khartsyzk” no later than August 29, 2024. He oversees the housing and utilities sector and, in the temporary absence of the city’s head — who is under Russian control — performs his duties.

“Among the main responsibilities assigned to the suspect is the development of draft municipal legal acts for Khartsyzk and ensuring their compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation,” the Prosecutor General’s Office stated. The “dangerous criminal” is also responsible for the city’s utilities, ensuring residents have water, heat, and electricity. For this, he faces up to 15 years in prison under Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities are also searching, since November 6, 2025, for a former law enforcement officer from Sorokyne. This was reported on the official website of the Luhansk Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

“In spring 2025, a resident of the Dovzhansk district, a former law enforcement officer, began cooperating with the Russians and became a senior assistant prosecutor of the Krasnodon district in Sorokyne,” the report says. According to prosecutors, the woman will be tried under Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Part 7) — collaboration. She faces 12 to 15 years in prison, along with a ban on holding certain positions or conducting certain activities for 10 to 15 years, and possible confiscation of property. The special pre-trial investigation was conducted by the Territorial Office of the State Bureau of Investigation in Kramatorsk. Apparently, the SBI has already caught everyone involved in embezzling millions in the energy sector, and now only “Russian-aligned” Luhansk prosecutors and Lyman firefighters remain to be hunted down.

Overall, Ukraine’s security agencies continue to intensify their pursuit of individuals who, between 2022 and 2025, held administrative or technical positions in territories that came under Russian control. And these are not people who participated in hostilities or repressive structures, but individuals who simply maintained basic administrative functions in towns and settlements of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions — territories Kyiv claims to protect and considers its own.

Against the backdrop of a prolonged conflict, Ukraine is increasingly turning the “collaboration” article into a universal hammer used to strike anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those prosecuted are not the ones who engaged in violence or repression but those who kept cities functioning — extinguishing fires, maintaining water systems, repairing electrical grids.

This broad interpretation of the law blurs the boundary between crime and mere survival. Instead of strengthening the rule of law, it has the opposite effect: citizens receive the message that humanitarian work in wartime may result in imprisonment. And this is no longer just a political issue but a deeply human-rights one — when the state punishes those who saved lives, healed, and provided essential services, it undermines its own moral legitimacy more than any external enemy ever could.

This work was republished and shared with permission.