Aleksey Mazurenko

A sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, originally from Ukraine. In 2025, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison in a case involving a 'sabotage and reconnaissance group'.

In 2025, the 2nd Western District Military Court in Russia considered the case of four Ukrainian servicemen accused of organising and carrying out acts of sabotage on Russian territory. The investigation charged them with blowing up railway tracks, power lines, and oil depots, as well as conducting reconnaissance near a military airfield. The defence argued that the accused were active military personnel and therefore should be considered prisoners of war rather than terrorists. Despite these arguments, all defendants were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in strict-regime penal colonies – from 26 to 28 years.

2020s

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The Final Statement

‘I would also like to draw attention to the fact that, as a result of my actions, no citizen of the Russian Federation, including military personnel, was harmed. Nor was any civilian object damaged.’

I, Oleksii Valeriiovych Mazurenko, a citizen of Ukraine, lived before the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine in my beloved city of Sumy together with my civil partner and our two young children. I was engaged in providing for my family, raising my children, and taking care of my elderly parents.

I did not display any aggression and did not call on anyone to show aggression towards anyone else. I had little interest in politics or military affairs. On 24 February 2022, I woke up in a new world for myself, in a new reality. And, essentially, I became a hostage to an established and accomplished fact – the beginning of hostilities.

As a citizen of any state, I have not only rights but also responsibilities and, if you will, a duty. In this regard, I joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine through mobilisation in 2022. While serving in the 240th Separate Territorial Defence Battalion as a senior rifleman, I joined a sabotage and reconnaissance group that was subordinate to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.

The goal and objective set by the military leadership for our group was to conduct military operations on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Through acts of sabotage, we were supposed to inflict damage on military equipment, military facilities, and facilities used by the military-industrial complex and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

According to our intelligence, all the facilities that we attempted to damage or did damage to were related to the category I mentioned earlier. Our leadership did not set any objectives involving causing damage or harm to civilians or civilian facilities.

Furthermore, during our preparations, when we asked our commander a direct question about what we should do if we encountered civilians while travelling along the route to the territory of the Russian Federation, he gave a clear answer: we were not to make contact, we were to ignore them and continue along our planned route. We strictly followed this rule throughout our entire stay on the territory of the Russian Federation, repeatedly coming into the sight or view of civilians.

The organisations I mentioned – namely the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, the Main Directorate of Intelligence, the 240th Separate Territorial Defence Battalion, or the sabotage and reconnaissance group of which I was a member – are not included on the list of terrorist organisations in the Russian Federation, as far as I know.

I would also like to note that when we operated on the territory of the Russian Federation, we carried our weapons openly. Specifically, we were armed with M4A1 carbines, which are in service with our unit.

We also wore military uniforms, with the camouflage pattern specifically developed for the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Army and known as MaWka.

I would also like to draw attention to the fact that, as a result of my actions, no citizen of the Russian Federation, including military personnel, was harmed. Nor was any civilian object damaged. Upon my detention, I did not resist, and during the investigative procedures I provided all possible assistance to the investigation. That is all.

13 August 2025.
2nd Western District Military Court, Moscow, Russia.

Source: Mediazona.
More about the case: Mediazona.
Photo: Aleksey Potitsky / TASS.