Andrei Sholik

Sholik served in the Ukrainian Aidar battalion as a medic. He was captured in the spring of 2022, was in the occupied territory of Donetsk region of Ukraine. Sholik was charged under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. After the Russian Federation proclaimed the DNR part of its territory, the charges were reclassified in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: Sholik was accused of participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation and violent seizure of power. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war, so he should not have been held criminally liable for participating in military actions, and also consider the charges absurd. On 17 October 2025, Sholik was sentenced to 16 years in a strict regime colony.