The SSU has documented new crimes committed by traitor Volodymyr Saldo, head of the russian occupation administration in the left-bank region of Kherson. He and two of his accomplices are involved in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children following the capture of the regional centre.

According to the investigation, on 7 October 2022, the suspects organised the illegal transfer of students from the Kherson Professional Shipbuilding Lyceum to so-called ‘health resorts’ in temporarily occupied Crimea.

It was established that the students of the educational institution were first transported by buses to the river port, and from there by boats to the left bank, where additional transport awaited them for the route to the peninsula.

To organize this illegal deportation, Saldo engaged Viktor Lohinov, former serviceman of the russian army who at the time of the crime held the ‘position of deputy director of the lyceum.’

According to the investigation, to disguise the illegal transfer of the children, Lohinov personally entered false data into the accounting records.

The second accomplice, Mykola Dolzhenko, a teacher at the lyceum which had been seized by that time, accompanied the students along the entire route to Crimea.

By these actions, the suspects violated Article 49 of the Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which prohibits individual or mass forcible transfers of protected persons from occupied territory.

Based on the collected evidence, SSU investigators have served Saldo and his two accomplices an in-absentia notice of suspicion under Articles 28.2 and 438.1 of the CCU (war crimes committed by a prior conspiracy of a group of persons).

Since the perpetrators are hiding in the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine's territory, efforts to bring them to justice are ongoing.

Previously, in another criminal proceeding based on SSU evidence, Kherson Region Gauleiter Saldo was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison.