Leonid Popov

24-year-old Leonid Popov from Melitopol was abducted by FSB officers for photographing Russian military equipment. After a fabricated trial, he was sent for compulsory psychiatric treatment and later transferred to a detention center in Donetsk, where he remains unlawfully held. His fate and health condition are still unknown.

Case Facts:

Identity: Ukrainian civilian, unlawfully detained in Donetsk

Date of birth: October 31, 2000

Last known location: Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region

Abducted: April 24, 2023

Report:

Leonid Popov was born on October 31, 2000, in the city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region. A young professional, he worked as a refrigeration systems operator, ensuring the stable operation of equipment and uninterrupted functioning of cooling systems. Colleagues and acquaintances remember Leonid as a calm, responsible, and diligent person who loved his work and was always ready to help others.

On April 24, 2023, Leonid’s life changed abruptly. Around noon, he was detained and abducted by representatives of the Russian FSB right on the street in his hometown of Melitopol. According to available information, the reason for his abduction was that Leonid had photographed military equipment belonging to the Russian occupying forces stationed in the city. He was taken away to an unknown location, and for several weeks his family had no information about his whereabouts or what had happened to him.

Later, it became known that Leonid had been taken to Simferopol, where an occupation “court” held a fabricated hearing against him. Shortly afterwards, he was sent indefinitely for compulsory psychiatric treatment at a clinic in the city of Zhdanivka, located in the Shakhtarsk district of the Donetsk region. Such actions are often used by Russian occupation authorities against Ukrainian civilians to break them morally and isolate them from the outside world.

Since August 15, 2024, Leonid Popov has been unlawfully held in Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Donetsk. Neither the Ukrainian side nor international humanitarian organizations have access to him or reliable information about his condition.

It is known that Leonid has been diagnosed with a chronic mental illness — undifferentiated schizophrenia. However, it remains unclear whether he is receiving the necessary medical treatment in detention and how prolonged isolation affects his health.

Leonid’s family and human rights defenders have been persistently seeking information about his fate and demanding his release. Like hundreds of other Ukrainian civilians, he has become a victim of the repressive policies of the occupation authorities, aimed at intimidation and the suppression of independent thought.

As of October 2025, Leonid Popov remains unlawfully deprived of his liberty in the occupied territory of Ukraine. His story is one of many that testify to the systematic human rights violations committed on territories occupied by Russia.