On March 27, the SBU Main Directorate in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions filed a notice of suspicion under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine against a representative of the occupation authorities in Donetsk, who voted for a decree calling for the general mobilization of men to take part in russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
About the suspect
Nataliia Anatoliivna Pshenychna (born November 22, 1974) is a native of Lyman, Donetsk region.
At the time of the crime, she held the position of so-called “deputy of the DPR People’s Council” and “chair of the Committee on Ethics, Regulations, Parliamentary Organization, and Interparliamentary Relations.”
The Central District Court of Dnipro is already considering a separate criminal case against her under Part 5 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (collaboration).
Circumstances of the crime
On February 19, 2022 — five days before the full-scale invasion — the head of the russian occupation administration in Donetsk, Pushilin, signed an illegal decree calling for the general mobilization of men aged 18 to 65 in the occupied region. That same day, an emergency plenary session of the “People’s Council” was convened in Donetsk, attended by 88 “deputies,” including Pshenychna.
At the session, they unanimously voted to approve the mobilization decree and adopted a corresponding “resolution.” Pshenychna directly participated in the vote.
Following these orders, the DPR military commissariats carried out forced mobilization. Men were taken under threat of “criminal liability” for evading service and sent to fight against Ukraine as part of the regular russian Armed Forces without proper combat training.
According to the investigation, the occupation authorities forcibly mobilized around 60,000 civilians from the occupied Donetsk region in this manner.
Charges
Forcing civilians under occupation to serve in the armed forces of an enemy state constitutes a direct violation of Articles 51 and 147 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons and is also a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In this context, the SBU filed a notice of suspicion against Pshenychna under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — violation of the laws and customs of war, committed by a group of persons acting in prior conspiracy. Criminal case No. 22025050000000821 was opened on August 18, 2025.
The indictment against Pushilin under a similar charge has already been submitted to court.