The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Oct. 20 it had named an occupation official a war-crime suspect over alleged raids and abuse targeting religious communities in Russian-held Melitopol.
Artem Sharlai, head of the occupation administration’s department for religious organizations in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was notified of the suspicion in absentia, the SBU said. The agency did not specify when it issued the notice. It cited Part 1 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, a war-crimes provision.
The SBU alleges Sharlai compiled lists of pro-Ukrainian parishioners for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Russian forces used his reports to carry out raids, the agency says, detaining clergy and worshippers in facilities run by occupation authorities. The SBU alleges detainees were beaten or had bags placed over their heads to obstruct their breathing. It did not provide a victim count.
The agency says the alleged pressure targeted communities that opposed Russian rule or refused to join Russian Orthodox Church dioceses. It says the aim was to secure support for the occupation. The SBU also says Sharlai served as an authorized representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin in occupied Melitopol during Russia’s 2024 presidential election.
Melitopol has been under Russian occupation since 2022. The Kyiv Independent documented church closures, loss of religious property and clergy who were expelled or forced to flee in a May 2025 investigation of the city. Those findings do not independently establish the SBU’s allegations against Sharlai.
A U.N. Secretary-General report covering July through December 2024 documented pressure on Catholic communities in occupied territory to register under Russian law. It also discussed two Greek Catholic priests arrested in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast in November 2022. The report did not name Sharlai.
The notice of suspicion is not a conviction. The SBU said measures to bring Sharlai to account are continuing but gave no date for another step.
