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Kyiv Independent

English-language Ukrainian news outlet

Geopolitics · 20 Oct 2026Russian occupation official charged with war crimes over church persecution in Melitopol

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said on Oct. 20 that it had notified Artem Sharlai, a Russian occupation official previously investigated by the Kyiv Independent, of suspicion of war crimes in absentia over his alleged involvement in persecuting religious communities in occupied Melitopol.