Based on the evidence of the Security Service, collaborator Yevgeny Balytsky, the head of the Russian occupation administration in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.
As the investigation established, the Gauleiter organized the mass theft and illegal export of Ukrainian grain in the interests of the aggressor country.
According to the investigation, after capturing part of the territory of the southern region of Ukraine, Balytsky began to implement the Kremlin's instructions to completely rob local farmers and agricultural companies.
Threatening with weapons, imprisonment and physical violence, the racists seized the private property of agricultural entrepreneurs, primarily Ukrainian grain.
Then, the occupation "governor" Balytsky ensured the illegal export of the looted products on behalf of the Russian Federation.
The main "routes" of grain ran from Mariupol, and then to the ports of Rostov-on-Don or temporarily occupied Crimea with further transportation to the countries of the Middle East.
According to available data, in this way alone during 2025, the Gauleiter organized the theft of almost half a million tons of Ukrainian grain.
Based on the evidence collected by the investigators of the Security Service, the court found Balytsky guilty under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
▪️ Part 8 of Art. 111-1 (collaborative activities);
▪️ Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 1 of Art. 111-2 (organization in aiding an aggressor state);
▪️ Part 2 of Art. 28, Part 1 of Art. 438 (war crimes committed by a group of persons in prior conspiracy).
We will remind that the convicted person is a former MP from the banned Party of Regions, who at the beginning of the full-scale war was one of the first to publicly support the racists. After that, they appointed him Gauleiter in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region.
According to the SBU, Balytskyi already has a criminal record in absentia in the form of 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property for organizing a pseudo-referendum on the Russian Federation.
Comprehensive measures are underway to bring the perpetrator to justice for crimes against Ukraine.
The investigation was conducted under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office.
