A Ukrainian patriot, imprisoned at 17, has spent half his life in a penal colony in occupied Donetsk
The case of Bohdan Kovalchuk stands apart from the stories of other Ukrainians imprisoned by Russia in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Among all known political prisoners in the so-called republics of eastern Ukraine, he is both the youngest and the longest-held.
Bohdan Kovalchuk is also one of perhaps dozens of teenagers subjected to political persecution in the occupied territories of Ukraine, where Russian authorities use terror as a tool to enforce obedience.
The case of “Yasynuvata saboteurs”
This was one of the earliest and most high-profile political cases in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic. On September 12, 2016, the region’s so-called Ministry of State Security announced that it had uncovered a group of seven “underage saboteurs” from Yasynuvata – an important railway hub between Donetsk and Horlivka. The boys had allegedly been recruited by Ukrainian Security Service to plant explosives on civilian and military vehicles and derail trains. Local propaganda figures seized on the story, fueling public outrage with claims that Ukrainian intelligence agencies were recruiting children.
Whether by design or incompetence, the Ministry of State Security obscured key details of the case. Initially, it named seven alleged “saboteurs”: Vladyslav Pazushko, Maksym Solodovnikov, Bohdan Kovalchuk, Denys Khmelenko, Yaroslav Myronov, Arsenii Belavin, and Denys Koval. Later, only five surnames were repeated: Kovalchuk, Pazushko, Khmelenko, Solodovnikov, and Myronov. Finally, in one of the pictures illustrating reports that the boys had allegedly been visited by UN representatives, there are only four of them.
Four underage prisoners from Yasynuvata “meet with UN representatives”
Ukrainian media speculated that Arsenii Belavin and Denys Koval had managed to flee the occupied territory before their arrest. Later, information confirming Belavin’s escape emerged.
As to those who were captured, the so-called “Ombudswoman for Human Rights” in Donetsk, Darya Morozova, appealed to the head of the “republic” to release them. Their families were also assured that the boys would be freed. Instead, they were all “convicted.”
It was only in late December 2019 that Morozova announced that the “saboteurs” were pardoned, but failed to specify their number and their names. The photos she published showed only three individuals. Earlier “incriminating” videos and social media pictures helped identify them, now visibly older, as Maksym Solodovnikov, Denys Khmelenko, and Yaroslav Myronov.
The “pardoning” of Maksym Solodovnikov, Denys Khmelenko, and Yaroslav Myronov
The media speculated that the boys were pardoned on condition that they agree to forgo a prisoner exchange and remain within the “republic’s” territory. Some, it appears, rejected this offer made by the occupation authorities.
The day after the pardon, Maksym Solodovnikov, Denys Khmelenko, and Yaroslav Myronov were released as part of a prisoner exchange. Denys Koval had been held separately from his “accomplices” in Makiyivka’s 32nd penal colony for adult male political prisoners all the way through.
Only then did it become clear why Koval never appeared in the humiliating videos made by the “Ministry of State Security”. He was not a teenager but an adult man. But what is more important is that at that very time he was being brutally tortured. As Koval later recounted after his release, his captors had broken all his ribs and knocked out nearly all his teeth.
After 2019, those who remained behind bars were Vladyslav Pazushko, who was 17 at the time of arrest and was kept in Horlivka’s 87th Mykytivka colony, and Bohdan Kovalchuk, who was kept in the 28th penal colony in Torez.
Kovalchuk, who firmly refused a pardon in the hope of being exchanged, has now spent nearly nine years in captivity. This is exactly half his life.
He is uncompromising
Bohdan Kovalchuk’s father and paternal relatives were absent from his life. He was raised by his mother, grandmother, and great-grandfather. He is the only son and only grandson.
His great-grandfather never lived to see Bohdan’s return from captivity. According to Bohdan’s grandmother, Tetiana Hots, the 80-year-old man was brutally beaten shortly before Bohdan’s imprisonment. One morning in the summer of 2016, neighbors saw a stranger leaving his house. When the elderly man did not come outside that day or the next, they became concerned. The went inside only to find him lying beaten. They immediately called his daughter. Nothing had been stolen from the house. He never revealed who had come or why.
Bohdan and the other so-called “saboteurs” – all of whom knew each other and were friends – were arrested on August 31, 2016 as they were leaving the occupied Yasynuvata. According to Tetiana Hots, her grandson had planned to move in with her in Toretsk and train as an auto mechanic in college. He had already left, but had to return to Yasynuvata to retrieve an official document – one he had been told was necessary for his admission to college.
Bohdan Kovalchuk (far left) with other detained teenagers
The Donetsk Ministry of State Security branded 17-year-old Bohdan Kovalchuk as the leader of a “gang.” A sham local “court” sentenced him to ten years in a penal colony. When Russia annexed the occupied Ukrainian territories, his so-called conviction was reviewed under Russian law, but ultimately remained intact. This means Bohdan still faces another year and a half in captivity. His family is haunted by the question of how he will escape the occupied territories upon release. They and Bohdan continue hoping that he will be included in a prisoner exchange.
In 2019, according to his grandmother, there was an attempt to include him in an exchange. Ukrainian law enforcement even contacted her, asking for identifying details and childhood nicknames to confirm his identity. However, he was looked for in the 32nd penal colony – a facility where he had never been kept – despite his family providing documents proving he was held in Torez. As a result, the one of the so-called “Yasynuvata saboteurs” found in the 32nd penal colony was Koval, but not Kovalchuk.
Bohdan still has no regrets about rejecting the so-called “pardon.” He considers such a deal an act of betrayal, something he finds utterly unacceptable. “He doesn’t complain. When I talked to him, he said, ‘I will endure everything, don’t worry.’ He is as stubborn as a little bull,” says his grandmother Tetiana Hots.
There is no information about the fate of Vladyslav Pazushko and the three boys who were “pardoned”, i.e. Maksym Solodovnikov, Denys Khmelenko, and Yaroslav Myronov. Their families have not sought media attention, and their social media accounts have remained inactive since August 2016, when they were imprisoned. Solodovnikov, Khmelenko, and Myronov, who were banned from leaving the occupied territories, might have been forcibly conscripted in the “republics” in 2021 and early 2022. However, it is only a speculation.
Particularly dangerous criminals
Russia has a clear vision of how to “properly” educate teenagers. The state enforces “family values” lessons in schools, military and patriotic activities in leisure time, and near-compulsory participation in governmental and non-governmental organizations for children and young people, the Young Army (Yunarmiya) movement, and year-round recreation camps.
The prospects for those who reject the Soviet-Putinist brand of patriotism are far less publicized. Dozens of teenagers across Russia are kept in prisons, held in penal colonies or confined in psychiatric hospitals for acts of “sabotage” or for expressing “disrespect toward the army”, which in practice includes any protests and statements condemning the war and supporting Ukraine. In October 2024, Moscow announced new crackdowns claiming to have detained dozens of individuals aged 14 to 35 across several Russian regions for alleged ties to Ukrainian terrorist organizations banned in Russia.
The occupied territories of Ukraine have perhaps the highest concentration of these so-called “problematic” children. Yet, the fate of most abducted and imprisoned teenagers, some of whom may have been killed in the occupation, remains unknown. Their families are often unable or too afraid to speak out publicly. The independent media have no access to them, while the occupation authorities and their propaganda outlets typically withhold the names of detained minors when announcing their arrests.
In 2018, occupation authorities in Makiivka reportedly detained a group of teenagers aged 14 to 16 for allegedly setting fire to a monument dedicated to Soviet soldiers who fell in the war with Nazi Germany. Russian propagandists claimed that teenagers “may have been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services.” However, unlike the case of “Yasynuvata saboteurs,” no further details ever emerged, raising the possibility that the case was fabricated. More recently, in 2023, a 16-year-old girl was caught lighting a cigarette and burning flowers at the Eternal Flame memorial in Yenakiieve. Her case was deemed a matter of national importance and placed under the direct oversight of Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee.
According to local occupation media, one of the most common crimes committed by teenagers in the occupied part of Ukraine is the desecration of monuments and Russian state symbols. Other so-called “political crimes” include gathering intelligence, sabotage, and even planning or participating in violent terrorist attacks.
In October 2024, a so-called “news agency” in occupied Donetsk reported that 161 “underage radicals” had been prosecuted in the region, of which 48 were allegedly forcibly placed in psychiatric institutions. Another 16 teenagers were officially registered with juvenile affairs offices for “extremist activities.”
A previous report from the same “news agency” of March 2023 provides insight into the extent of the so-called “extremism” in the occupied territories. A group of minors aged 7 to 18 had gathered in central Makiivka. This constituted a “disturbance of public order” because, as stated by the occupation Ministry of Internal Affairs, “a gathering of people represents a potential target for Ukrainian armed formations.” Six children were detained for “preventative conversations,” subjected to background checks, and placed under official monitoring.
This article was published with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED). Its content does not necessarily reflect the official position of the EED. The views or opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of its authors.
Authored by Yuliya Abibok
