A sentence with no one to carry it. Russian court gives a Ukrainian 15 years for arson under occupation, two years after he died fighting for Ukraine

The court sentenced Daniil Sokolov on charges of an “act of international terrorism” and of “involving a minor in a crime” to 15 years in a strict-regime penal colony, with the first three years to be served in a prison. Grigory Nikonov (Babchenko), who was charged only with an act of international terrorism, received six years in a general-regime penal colony.

According to investigators, in June 2022 Sokolov, Babchenko and Sergei Popov (17 at the time) came to the building of the Novobohdanivka military-civilian administration, tore down the Russian flag and threw two Molotov cocktails at a window and a door. The fire was quickly put out by neighbours who came running at the noise.

Going to the village council that night also was a fellow villager, Volodymyr Kovalenko, who was later given a suspended sentence for failing to report a crime and became a witness for the prosecution.

According to OVD-Info, in January 2025 the Southern District Military Court sentenced Sergei Popov to five years and six months in a maximum-security colony on charges of “international terrorism” and “desecration of the state flag”.

The trial of Sokolov and Babchenko was held in the defendants’ absence; their whereabouts are unknown to the court, and both are being sought by Russia’s Interior Ministry.

Daniil’s father, Yuri Sokolov, said he had stopped speaking with his son, who in the fall of 2022 “left for Zaporizhzhia, joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and took part in combat against the Russian armed forces.”

In January 2026, the Reni urban hromada in Odesa region announced that Daniil Sokolov had been killed in action. He died near Pokrovsk back in February 2024 and was long listed as missing in action. A report from the soldier’s funeral was published by the outlet Odesa News. Sokolov’s death was confirmed by a Mediazona source familiar with a close relative of his.