In Kherson, two women were charged in absentia with participating in a sham referendum
Law enforcement officials have served charges in absentia against two residents of Kherson who are suspected of participating in the organization and conduct of an illegal “referendum” on the region’s annexation to the Russian Federation. According to the investigation, they were members of the occupying “election commission” and helped conduct the sham vote. Both suspects are currently in hiding in the temporarily occupied territory.
The Kherson Regional Police reported a new development in the investigation into collaborationist activities during the Russian occupation of the city. Charges were filed in absentia against two local residents who, according to investigators, actively participated in organizing an illegal “referendum” in 2022. As noted by Chermen Tuskayev, deputy head of the Kherson Regional Police Investigation Department, the events took place in September 2022, when part of the city was under the control of the occupying forces.
“In September 2022, during the occupation of the Dniprovskyi District of Kherson, the suspects agreed to the occupiers’ proposal and voluntarily joined the fake precinct election commission,” he said. According to the investigation, the two suspects are 68 and 71 years old. Between September 23 and 27, 2022, law enforcement officials allege that they facilitated the sham voting, participated in campaigning, and distributed propaganda materials. Specifically, they are charged with the following actions:
— organizing the conditions for illegal voting;
— campaigning and “educational” work among local residents;
— coercing citizens to participate in the “referendum”;
— distributing Russian symbols and propaganda materials.
During a search of one of the suspects’ residences, law enforcement officers seized computer equipment and tricolor flags, which, according to investigators, may have been used for organizational activities.
It was also established that one of the women already has a criminal record—in June 2025, the Kherson City Court found her guilty under a similar charge. According to police, after the liberation of Kherson, both women left the city and fled to the temporarily occupied territory on the left bank of the region, where they currently remain. “On the eve of Kherson’s liberation by the Ukrainian Defense Forces, both collaborators fled in a hurry to the temporarily occupied left bank of the region,” the police noted.
They are currently charged with collaboration. The penalty under this article provides for up to 10 years of imprisonment, along with confiscation of property and a ban on holding certain positions. The investigation into the case is ongoing; law enforcement officials are gathering additional evidence and establishing all the circumstances of the suspects’ involvement in the occupying structures. This was reported by the press center of the National Police of Ukraine.
As a reminder, the SBU detained a woman suspected of working for Russian intelligence services.
The SBU has also uncovered new schemes to evade mobilization across Ukraine.
