Russians are recruiting teenagers in Ukraine via Telegram. The latter receive voice messages on their phones with this kind of content:
“I am primarily interested in the arson of military cars. Specifically, I am interested in green or camouflage-coloured cars with black licence plates. Do you see any around? Check the courtyards for them in the evening. Walk around, take photos, and send them to me. I take a look, and if the car fits the description, you get to work, in the night time as well. And when you’re ready, you turn on the video. You pour fuel all over the windshield, and then all the way to the trunk. You turn on the video as you set the car on fire. You record about seven seconds of it lighting up nicely.
Go to a safe place and send me a video. And tell me where to transfer the money. I’ll pay two thousand dollars for one car. You understand that if I transfer such an amount to a bank account, it may be blocked. People will ask where the money came from. If you don’t know how to use a crypto wallet, I’ll teach you. There’s nothing complicated about it. I’ll make a transfer to crypto, and then you can pull the money out of your crypto wallet onto any account. The next job can be done at home. I’ll pay five thousand dollars for it. If you’re interested, I’ll tell you all about it. I have a lot of guys working for me. They all do their jobs cautiously and no one gets caught.”
Not everyone is offered USD 2,000. Seventeen-year-old Mykhailo S., a Chernihiv native, was promised a reward of 8,000 Ukrainian hryvnia (180 USD), according to the official statement posted on the regional police website immediately after the teenager’s arrest.He is the stepson of a deminer, Volodymyr S., who died of his injuries last August after an attack in Mykolaiv that killed three of his colleagues on the spot on 14 February 2025.
“Every two months, law enforcement officers detain minors who have collaborated with Russian special services. Three cases are already in court,” Ihor Kondratiuk, prosecutor of the Department for the Protection of Children’s Interests and Countering Domestic Violence of the Chernihiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, reports. “All cases are similar. Russian special services find children on Telegram. They offer easy money. At first, the tasks are innocent: put up posters, write graffiti on a wall, take photos of a shop, etc. Sometimes, as an encouragement, they may send a small amount of money for this ‘job’. Then they give more serious tasks: photograph military facilities, set something on fire, etc.”
The first cases of minors being apprehended were reported in August 2024. Since then, seven have been caught red-handed. Most of these children come from decent families.
The first minor to be convicted for high treason
According to the investigation, in March 2025, Mykhailo was tasked with setting fire to a railway relay cabinet at the Chernihiv train station in order to disrupt train traffic. He was supposed to record his actions on video using his mobile phone to provide evidence to his supervisor. Mykhailo took a solvent as igniter and went to the station. In broad daylight. He poured it over the cabinet and set it on fire. Someone noticed it in time and called the police. The cabinet was not disabled, only blackened.
Evidence proving his involvement in the crime – a mobile phone with a video recording of the criminal act, as well as containers with flammable liquid – were found and seized from the young man by law enforcement officers. Mykhailo was convicted in early October. “The court sentenced him to five years in prison. He became the first minor since 2022 to be convicted of high treason in Chernihiv,” Maryna Yushchenko, press secretary of the regional prosecutor’s office, said.
However, in accordance with the Criminal Code, the court suspended his sentence for a probationary period of two years. During this time, the convicted teenager is not allowed to leave Ukraine without the permission of the authorities, must regularly register with the probation services, and must notify the authorities of any change in his place of study, work or residence. Probation means that the convicted teenager may be sent to serve the five years of imprisonment if he violates the terms of probation (for example, by committing a new crime). If the probation period is completed without incident, the sentence will be considered served.
Two other cases in Chernihiv and Nizhyn
Mykhailo is not the only one who was tempted by promises from Russian special services. Currently [The original version of this article was published in October 2025], two high-profile cases involving teenagers accused of treason and sabotage are under consideration in the courts of Chernihiv and Nizhyn. Sofia F. from Chernihiv was 16 years old when she was detained on 25 November 2024. “She was supposed to identify and transmit to the aggressor the coordinates of air defence missile systems and radar stations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine defending the border area. To cover up her surveillance actions, the young girl would call a taxi, use it to drive around the area and secretly record the targeted locations,” Ukraine’s security services (SBU) stated at the time. “The SBU detained her as she was photographing a defence facility. Investigators established that the suspect was in direct contact with a staff member of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, with whom she communicated via an anonymous chat in a messenger app. A mobile phone containing evidence was seized from the suspect during house search. Based on the collected evidence, security service investigators handed the suspect a notice of suspicion for treason committed under martial law. She faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.”
Sofia’s father is a military man. She lived with her mother and stepfather. “I believe that the girl was unlawfully brought to criminal responsibility,” Serhii Kozyr, Sofia’s lawyer from Kyiv, says. The trial began in April 2025. The accused denies her guilt. [By October 2025 her case was at the stage of court hearings.]
17-year-old Vitaliy K. has been in pre-trial detention centre for one year now. The investigation established that he and three friends of the same age – Nazar Zh., Ruslan M. and Yevheniy S. – set fire to relay cabinets on the railway tracks between Nosivka and Nizhyn. The young men are from Nosivka. They were released on bail almost immediately. But Vitaliy remains in custody. He needs 242,000 hryvnia (5,600 dollars) to be released on bail. His family does not have that kind of money. His mother is a single parent raising four children; his father is deceased.
According to the investigation, Ruslan M. found this ‘job’ after Russians wrote to him on Telegram. The first ‘task’ was carried out by four people. The second was done by two. They were arrested in early October 2024. A railway worker caught them in the act and called the police.
How to qualify these acts?
“The case is currently under consideration by the [Nizhyn City district] court. We are examining the written evidence of the prosecution,” Yevheniy Muzychuk, a lawyer from Kyiv for Vitaliy, Nazar, and Ruslan, says. “This is my first case under the ‘sabotage’ article, although I have 25 years of experience. I am a former prosecutor’s investigator and have been a defence lawyer in criminal cases for 20 years. If the Security Service of Ukraine had correctly classified my clients’ actions from the start, Vitaliy would not have spent a year in custody. I am confident that my clients were arrested under article 113 [sabotage] unlawfully. I am convinced that there was no sabotage in their actions. There were no victims or casualties, and the train did not derail. There was no such intent in their actions. There was also no intention to cause harm to the State in general, as opposed to a specific train. I am going to prove that the young men had no criminal premeditation, intent or motive.”
In Muzychuk’s view, his clients “are guilty of two crimes, as one action constitutes two offences under Articles 277 of the Criminal Code (damage to transport networks and vehicles) and 194 (intentional destruction or damage to property resulting in harm). My clients admit their guilt. They deserve a suspended sentence. I have filed a motion to change the charges from Article 113 to Articles 277 and 194. Not all crimes can be acquitted, but I am in favour of giving a repentant person a chance. And give them a probationary sentence. Someone like that will then be of more value to society.”
The lawyer says he “went through dozens of verdicts in Ukraine for arson of a railway relay cabinet. The judges classified such cases under Articles 277 and 194. And under these articles, suspects are placed under house arrest or night-time house arrest. Vitaliy would have been at home helping his mother, brothers and sisters. But now, when I look at him, it makes me want to cry. The purpose of punishment is to reform and rehabilitate. But the minor was thrown behind bars. What the boys did was a serious crime, but it wasn’t murder. Their goal was to make money. Some wanted to help their parents, others wanted to buy a motorcycle.”
How much did the Russians offer the boys? “After the first arson, they were paid 14,000 hryvnia [320 dollars]. They were caught after the second attack.”
“I often give my own example,” the lawyer said. “When I was 15, I was also a troublemaker with my friends, and we almost stole a piece of machinery. The police caught us. They gave us a warning. They said, ‘Go, and don’t let this happen again’. I graduated from school with honours. I graduated from the academy with a top grade distinction. At 15, kids don’t understand what a crime is. But we treat them the same as 50-year-old men with life experience. This must also be taken into account. The decision must be lawful and fair.”
“Expendable material”
We are talking about two criminal offences. Treason – when information about the location of military personnel, military facilities and places of deployment are recorded and transmitted. Sabotage – photographing and setting fire to railway facilities and civilian infrastructure. All with the intent to disrupt ordinary functioning.
When a person is suspected of committing these crimes, only one preventive measure is applicable – detention. Even if they are minors. However, the court may set a bail. Once paid, the child can be released.
For high treason, the age of legal responsibility is 16 years. For sabotage, it is 14 years. According to the Criminal Code of Ukraine children who have not reached this age but are at least 11-years old may be subject to compulsory educational measures. These may include placing the child under parental supervision or sending the child to a special educational institution or boarding school until they reach the age of majority.
A defence lawyer and psychologist must be present during investigative measures involving teenagers. The goal is to avoid psychological trauma in the future. One of the parents is designated as legal representative and has the right to participate in all investigative actions involving the child. The parent acts on the child’s behalf.
“The Russian special services cynically recruit minors and effectively rob them of their lives. They are expendable material that they use for sabotage, and they are considered casualties,” a Security Service of Ukraine employee says.
This report was produced thanks to a grant by Fondation Hirondelle/Justice Info. A full version of this article was published on October 27, 2025, in "Vest Gazeta".
