Taras Radchenko

Chief of Intelligence and Assistant Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian 'Aidar' battalion. Captured in the spring of 2022, he was in the occupied territory of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. He was forced to film for a propaganda video. Later in court, he noted that he looked beaten in the video. Radchenko was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic: the investigation considered him one of the organisers of the activities of a terrorist organisation. After the Russian Federation declared the DNR part of its territory, the charges were reclassified in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: Radchenko was accused of participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation, forcible seizure of power, and receiving training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war, so he should not have been held criminally liable for actual participation in hostilities, and, in addition, consider the charges to be absurd. On October 17, 2025, Radchenko was sentenced to 20 years in a strict regime colony.