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Friday, December 19, 2025
A court in Russian-controlled Donetsk has sentenced Hayden Davies, a British former soldier, to 13 years in a strict-regime penal colony.
Russian authorities convicted the 30-year-old of acting as a paid mercenary while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Russia in the ongoing conflict. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office announced the verdict on December 18, 2025.
Prosecutors claim Davies arrived in Ukraine in August 2024, signed a contract with the International Legion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, received training, and participated in combat operations in the Donetsk region before his capture in late 2024.
The UK Foreign Office has strongly condemned the sentencing as based on “false charges,” asserting that Davies is a prisoner of war entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions.
Images released by Russian authorities and circulated by international media depict Davies during the hearing in Donetsk, appearing inside a defendant’s cage in the courtroom.
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