A Russian citizen, Dmytro Nesterov, was notified in absentia of suspicion of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Ukraine for participating in the creation and activities of the occupation authorities in the Kherson region.
The text of the suspicion was published on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
According to the investigation, in March 2022, after the occupation of part of Kherson Oblast, Russian forces created the so-called military-civilian administration of Kherson Oblast. The 47-year-old Russian citizen Dmytro Nesterov, who permanently resided in the village of Bekhtery in the Skadovsk district, voluntarily agreed to cooperate with the occupying forces.
According to law enforcement, he colluded with representatives of the Russian armed forces and assumed the position of the so-called “head of the Bekhtery rural settlement of the Holoprystansky municipal district”. In this position he effectively ensured the functioning of the occupation administration in the locality.
In particular, Nesterov facilitated the transition of local entrepreneurs to Russian legislation, the introduction of a ruble zone, presented himself to local residents as the “new head” and publicly supported the integration of the village into the administrative system of the aggressor state.
Also, according to the investigation, in September 2022 he participated in organizing and conducting an illegal referendum on the accession of the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast to Russia — he personally carried the ballot box and acted accompanied by armed Russian servicemen.
Investigators believe that his actions led to the de facto establishment of the occupying forces’ authority in Bekhtery and made it impossible for Ukrainian authorities to operate in that territory.
Currently Dmytro Nesterov is suspected of committing an offense under Part 2 of Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — intentional actions committed with the aim of changing Ukraine’s territorial boundaries and state border by prior conspiracy of a group of persons.
As a reminder, on February 27, 2026 the Novovorontsovsk District Court in absentia found 53-year-old Nova Kakhovka resident Oksana Atamanchuk guilty of collaborationist activities; she had conducted illegal elections in the Kherson region.