Irina Gorobtsova

A resident of Kherson, she worked as a QA Engineer. After the start of the Russian occupation, she volunteered by driving a car to deliver medicines, food and other necessities, as well as helping medical staff get to the hospital. She participated in Kherson's protests against the occupation, published Facebook posts in support of the Ukrainian military and information about civilian and military fundraisers. On 13 May 2022, according to relatives, Gorobtsova was taken away from her home by armed men in military uniforms and masks. In June 2022, her father received a reply from the Federal Security Service (FSB) stating that "the person concerned had resisted a special military operation (also "special operation," and abbreviated as "SVO")", so "a decision regarding her" would be taken "after the end of the SVO". It was later revealed that Gorobtsova was taken to the Crimea. Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov told "Grats" in October 2022 that the Interior Ministry informed him that she had been in SIZO No. 1 in Simferopol since at least the end of May, while the staff of the isolation centre refused to let him meet with his client, claiming that she was not held there. As of October 2022, she has not been charged with any offence. Then it became known that Gorobtsova was accused of espionage. According to the investigation, she collected strategically important data on units of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of the Kherson region and passed it to an employee of the main intelligence Directorate of Ukraine. On 15 August 2024, Gorobtsova was sentenced to 10 and a half years in a general regime colony. In February 2025, Gorobtsova's father reported that she had been diagnosed with a brain vessel aneurysm.