Vitaly Krokhalev

Vitaly served as a driver in the Ukrainian Aidar battalion in 2018. At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he was working at a car wash in Kyiv. On 18 March 2022, he was detained in his native Donetsk Oblast. He was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. After the Russian Federation declared the DPR part of its territory, the charges were reclassified under the Russian Criminal Code. Krokhalev was accused of participating in a terrorist organisation and the violent seizure of power. Human rights activists note that he is a prisoner of war and therefore should not have been criminally prosecuted merely for participating in hostilities. They also consider the charges absurd. On 17 October 2025, Krokhalev was sentenced to 16 years in a strict-regime penal colony.