“In Belarus, Maksym Zezyulchyk, who fought against Ukraine on the side of Russia and was previously a prisoner of war in the Armed Forces, was convicted. Human rights activists report that he is accused of mercenary and treason, and he is currently serving his sentence in a colony in Shklov”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
In July 2023, Maksym Zezyulchyk, while in Ukrainian captivity, gave an interview to Ukrainian blogger Volodymyr Zolkin. He said that before Russia’s war with Ukraine, he served under a contract in the Special Operations Forces (SSO) of Belarus, and later joined a private military company.
According to Zezyulchyk, he was offered to join the PVC by the commander of the battalion. This happened back in December 2021 – two months before the start of a full-scale war. “The task of our group is subversive actions on the territory of Ukraine,” said the Belarusian, answering a question about what Zampolit said when he offered to join the PMK.
In addition, Zezyulchyk said that in 2020, Belarusian military and Russian law enforcement officers disguised as civilians helped special forces disperse protests in Belarus.
Maksym Zezyulchyk left his military unit on July 18, 2022 and went to Tambov. After three days of training, he was sent to the front in Ukraine. In September of the same year, he was captured. In the Security Service of Ukraine, Zezyulchyk was called an intelligence officer of the KGB of Belarus.
“According to the legend, he was supposed to act under the guise of a foreign mercenary, and to transfer the collected intelligence information to Minsk through a liaison,” the SBU message said. – Among his main tasks was the collection of intelligence on the samples of foreign weapons that come to the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Western partners.”
The Ukrainian court sentenced Zezyulchyk to 10 years of imprisonment in the case of mercenary. In 2024, Ukraine handed over Zezyulchyk to the Russian side, which, according to DissidentBY, later extradited him to Belarus. It is not known what he was specifically accused of and what term he was given.
Zezyulchyk is serving his sentence in a colony in the city of Shklov in the Mogilev region.