KURSK. March 11 (Interfax) - The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced Alexander Melnik and Alexei Pokatilov, members of a separate infantry battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in the case of a terrorist attack on the Kursk region, the press service of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.
Each of the defendants was sentenced to 16 years in a penitentiary, including the first three years to be served in prison and the rest in a high-security penitentiary, the statement said.
Investigators and the court found that the defendants, operating as part of an armored convoy, broke into the Glushkovo district of the Kursk region in September 2024, headed to Vesyoloye and blocked it.
"They held the community under armed control, patrolled it, planted mines on roads and terrain, and repeatedly fired to kill at Russian troops and civilians," the statement said.
Melnik and Pokatilov were soon captured by Russian forces and stayed incarcerated until being sentenced.
Both were found guilty of a terrorist attack conspiracy with grave consequences.