Ukrainian engineer Serhiy Potynh is the latest of many employees of the plant abducted, tortured and then ‘tried’ on preposterous charges aimed at accusing Ukrainians of Russia’s terrorism
Serhiy Potynh in the Russian court Photo posted by Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov
Serhiy Potynh in the Russian court Photo posted by Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov
Three years after using military force to seize control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant [ZNPP] and unleashing terror at the plant, Russia has sentenced one of the employees it abducted to 18 years’ imprisonment, claiming that Serhiy Potynh “was planning an act of terrorism”. The sentence is especially chilling given earlier reports that the Ukrainian engineer had been subjected to savage torture after his abduction in June 2023.
Russia’s abductions of ZNPP employees and other residents of Enerhodar began back in 2022. While some were tortured, but later released, the whereabouts of others remain unknown. In September 2023, Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov reported the abduction of two employees from the plant – Serhiy Potynh (b. 18.04.1992) on 23 June 2023, and Serhiy Spartesny, the head of a turbine department, a month later, on 18 July. It was known, Orlov wrote, that both men were being held prisoner at an occupation ‘police’ station, but not why they had been abducted, or what state they were in. This was of particular concern in Potynh’s case as there was information that he had been subjected to savage torture and other physical violence.
Typically, Potynh was held incommunicado, with no information as to why or where, for almost 18 months. In October 2024, the Russian prosecutor general announced that “a Ukrainian citizen is to go on trial for taking part in a terrorist organization and attempted terrorist attack”.
According to the ‘investigators’, in March 2022, when Russia first shelled the nuclear power station and then seized control, it was Ukrainian ZNPP engineer Serhiy Potynh who “joined a terrorist organization created by officers of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s Military Intelligence in order to cause an explosion at the Zaporizhzhia NPP”. He had purportedly taken photos to collect information about vehicles with access to the territory of the power station, the routes they followed and the places where they parked, with this passed on to their contact through Messenger.
In May 2023, he was claimed to have received instructions to eliminate somebody whom the Russians call “an officer of the enforcement bodies” through the use of an explosive device. He had supposedly taken explosives from a secret hiding place, kept it at his home, and then planted this under a car used by “the official” who was later referred to as a so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic police officer” He was alleged to have planned to detonate this from a distance when the car was on the territory of the nuclear power station.
As in virtually all such cases, the claim is that such a ‘terrorist act’ was thwarted by the Russian ‘enforcement bodies’ with Potynh “detained”.
There is no explanation as to when Potynh was formally “placed in detention”, with it quite likely that this was up to 18 months after his actual abduction.
The above ‘case’ against the 32-year-old Ukrainian was passed to the Southern District Military Court in Rostov, which has been involved in the persecution of Ukrainian political prisoners since soon after Russia’s invasion of Crimea. The ‘trial’ was before ‘judge’ Vitaly Viktorovich Mamedov.
Potynh was charged with planning an act of terrorism (Articles 205 § 3b 30 § 1 of Russia’s criminal code); participation in a terrorist organization (Article 205.4 § 2); and of unlawful circulation of explosives (Article 222.1 § 4). Even without the likely use of torture and Portynh’s illegal abduction and imprisonment without any legal status, Ruaai is in violation of international law through its use of its legislation on occupied territory and forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens to Russia.
The sentence passed on 26 March 2025 was to 18 years harsh-regime (maximum-security) imprisonment and a 700 thousand rouble fine
As mentioned, Potynh is one of many Ukrainian employees at the plant who have been abducted and either vanished or faced ‘trial’ on evidently fabricated charges. While carrying out acts of terror on a virtually daily basis, Russia has tried to accuse Ukraine of such crimes, including attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. It is Russia that turned the territory of this largest nuclear station in Europe into a military site, and it would be first and foremost Ukraine that would suffer were there to be a major accident at the site. Who, more than engineers at the plant, would know this, with the claim that Potynh planned to deliberately detonate a car on the territory of the plant especially preposterous.
Several other employees from the plant have been first held for long periods of time incommunicado, without any official status, and then sentenced on equally implausible charges to long terms of imprisonment.
See:
Nalalia Shulha Fake Russian ‘court’ sentences abducted Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employee to 15 years on 'sabotage' charges
Serhiy SpartesnyOngoing terror as Russia passes grotesque 'sentence' against abducted Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employee
Serhiy Korzh Huge conveyor belt sentences against Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant engineer, other Ukrainians whom Russia abducted and tortured
Tetiana Klochko Russia sentences Ukrainian to 12 years on fake Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant ‘terrorism’ charges
Oleh Morochkovsky and Dmytro YevsielievAbducted Ukrainians tortured into claiming Ukraine carried out Russia’s attack on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
Another employee of the plant, Oleksiy Brazhnyk was last seen in February 2023, when the Russians produced a propaganda video, claiming to have ‘deported’ him.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant engineer held and tortured by Russian invaders for over a year