On February 10, 2026, the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine served a notice of suspicion under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on a Russian serviceman accused of raping a woman in occupied Balakliya, Kharkiv region, in April 2022 while threatening to shoot her child.
Background on the suspect
Andrei Aivarovich Andreev (born 11 July 2002) is a native of the village of Eerbek, Kyzyl district, Republic of Tyva, Russia. At the time of the alleged crime, he served as an assistant grenade launcher operator in a motorized rifle unit of the 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (military unit No. 35390, based in Sakhalin), part of the 68th Army Corps of Russia’s Eastern Military District, holding the rank of private.
According to investigators, he had been stationed in occupied Balakliya, Izyum district, Kharkiv region, since March 2022. He was killed in action on April 2, 2022.
Circumstances of the alleged crime
On March 31, 2022, between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., Andreev and two other Russian servicemen entered a private household where women and children were staying. They inspected the premises and confirmed that only two women and their young daughters were present.
Later that night, at around 12:45 a.m., Andreev returned to the house in an intoxicated state and ordered one of the women to go with him. When she refused, he pointed a firearm at her daughter.
Fearing for her child’s life, the woman followed him into the kitchen, where he forced her to undress and raped her.
Andreev then summoned the second woman and forced her to undress. After deciding not to assault her, he continued raping the first victim while consuming alcohol.
Legal qualification
Sexual violence against protected persons during an international armed conflict constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocol I of 1977.
Andreev has been notified of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (as in force at the time of the crime), which concerns cruel treatment of civilians.