Irina Gorobtsova

A resident of Kherson, a port city in southern Ukraine, Gorobtsova worked as a tester. After the start of the Russian occupation, she volunteered by delivering medicines, food, and essentials by car, and helped medical workers get to the hospital. She participated in protests by Kherson residents against the occupation, wrote Facebook posts supporting Ukrainian soldiers, and published information about fundraising for the needs of civilians and the military.

On May 13, 2022, according to relatives, armed men in military uniforms and masks took Gorobtsova from her home. In June 2022, her father received a response from the Federal Security Service (FSB) stating that "the mentioned person opposed the special military operation," so "a decision regarding her" would be made "after the end of the SVO" (Special Military Operation).

Later it became known that Gorobtsova was taken to Crimea. Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov said in October 2022 that the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed him she had been held since at least late May in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Simferopol, while detention staff refused to let him meet her, claiming she was not there. As of October 2022, she had not been charged.

Subsequently, Gorobtsova was accused of espionage. According to the investigation, she collected strategically important data about the units of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kherson region and passed them to an officer of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine. On August 15, 2024, Gorobtsova was sentenced to 10 and a half years in a general regime penal colony.

In February 2025, Gorobtsova's father reported that she was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.