Former intelligence officer Shevchenko is appealing against his conviction for treason — the appeal will be heard in Odessa
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- Alisa MelikadamianContributing Editor, Reporter
A court in Mykolaiv has sentenced Eduard Shevchenko to 15 years’ imprisonment. Photo: NikVestiEduard Shevchenko, former commander of the 73rd Ochakiv Naval Centre of the Special Operations Forces and adviser to the mayor of Ochakiv, is appealing against his conviction for high treason. The appeal hearing has been scheduled at the Odesa Court of Appeal.
This was reported by a NikVesti correspondent, citing data from YouControl.
The hearing is scheduled for 3 September. The case will be heard by a panel of judges at the Odesa Court of Appeal comprising Ihor Artemenko, Yulian Kravets and Ruslan Hromik.
Shevchenko’s interests in the appeal will be represented by lawyer Oleksandr Herasymov. In a comment to NikVesti, he noted that his client remains in pre-trial detention as the verdict of the court of first instance has not yet become final.
As a reminder, in April 2026, a panel of judges at the Zavodskyi District Court — Iryna Bobrova, Inna Prytuliak and Vadym Havrasienko found Shevchenko guilty of high treason and unlawful handling of weapons and sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment.
According to the operative part of the judgement, the court acquitted Shevchenko under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. This episode concerned events in 2018 linked to the arrival of a British warship in Odesa. At the same time, he was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — high treason under martial law — as well as under Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — unlawful handling of weapons.
The case of Eduard Shevchenko
The trial of Eduard Shevchenko, who was accused of collaborating with Russian intelligence services, began on 6 February. News of his arrest on charges of treason emerged in March 2023. Not only did he head the Ochakiv City Council department responsible for security in the city, but he was also, at one time, commander of the 73rd Naval Special Forces Centre, an ATO veteran and a recipient of state orders.
In an interview with journalists, he spoke negatively about his years of service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, citing the unfair level of provision for military personnel.
At the hearing on 27 May, the court considered the procedure for conducting a search of the defendant’s home. However, apart from a dark screen, it was impossible to see anything due to the lack of lighting in the house. On 4 June, the court considered the searches carried out at the home of the father of an officer from the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, who is linked to the case concerning the recruitment of the mayor of Ochakiv.
In October, the court partially lifted the seizure of the defendant’s property. This concerned his 16-year-old son’s mobile phone and a thermal imager.
How is the mayor of Ochakiv linked to the treason case?
When Eduard Shevchenko was arrested in March 2023, the SSU reported, amongst other things, that he had attempted to recruit Mayor Serhii Bychkov.
According to the investigation, whilst Eduard Shevchenko was head of the security and surveillance department of the Ochakiv City Council’s Housing and Communal Services Department, he was tasked by Serhii Kolesnikov with recruiting the mayor to ensure his loyalty. In a face-to-face meeting with Bychkov at the city council, Shevchenko said that representatives of the Russian Federation wished to speak with the mayor.
«He’s very wary. I suggested they go through me,» he reported to Kolesnikov at the time following his conversation with the Ochakiv mayor.
Following his arrest, Eduard Shevchenko stated that he was surprised by the SBU’s press release, which stated that he had attempted to recruit Mayor Serhiy Bychkov to work for the Russians.
Denys Zhelo, deputy chair of the Public Oversight Council of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, commented on the fact that law enforcement agencies had no allegations against Ochakiv’s mayor, Serhii Bychkov, whose colleague had been detained on charges of treason. According to Denys Zhelo, Ochakiv’s mayor, Serhii Bychkov, «was on friendly terms in every respect with the Russian intelligence agent Eduard Shevchenko».
Eduard Shevchenko himself noted that he considers Serhii Bychkov to be the most effective mayor Ochakiv has ever had.
The mayor himself was almost always reluctant to speak to the media. Commenting on this, Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, suggested that Serhii Bychkov does not engage with the community or report on the results of his work because he is «a private person».
During one of the hearings in the case against Eduard Shevchenko , an excerpt from a conversation between Mayor Serhii Bychkov and the Russian side was played. The conversation took place under the supervision of representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine.
Serhii Bychkov himself was repeatedly absent when the court was due to question him in this case. Iryna Bobrova, a judge at the Zavodskyi District Court in Mykolaiv, even stated that she could not understand why the mayor of Ochakiv, Serhii Bychkov, was frequently abroad, whilst the city was under daily shelling. It was only after several summonses that the mayor appeared in court for questioning on 12 February.
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