«Mediazona» told the story of 65-year-old teacher Valentina Zayarnaya, who found herself under criminal prosecution for helping a Ukrainian soldier, now she is accused of «terrorism», and the woman faces up to 20 years in prison. During the investigation, she attempted suicide.
Two years ago, she taught English at one of the schools in the city of Amvrosievka, which has been under the control of the self-proclaimed DPR authorities for over 10 years.
In 2018, the woman accidentally met a Ukrainian border guard named Dima. They developed a close, almost family-like relationship, and Valentina called him her «adopted son».
When in June 2022 the border guard called Valentina and asked for help to get out of occupied Mariupol, she could not refuse him. So Dima settled in the house where the teacher lived with her own son. The border guard then said he had long left the service, and his house had been bombed. Only a year later did Zayarnaya learn that Dima had deceived her. In fact, his name was Denis Storozhuk. He had combat experience: in 2015, the Ukrainian fought against pro-Russian forces in Donbas. By the time of the Russian invasion in 2022, he was a lieutenant colonel working in the Ukrainian border service, where he held the position of head of the operational-search department. The department was based in Sartana, a small settlement 16 kilometers northeast of Mariupol, but Storozhuk was most often found at the «Hnutove» checkpoint, which since 2014 had been the de facto border between the self-proclaimed DPR and the Ukrainian-controlled areas of Donetsk region. Moreover, it turned out that he fought against the Russians during the defense of «Azovstal», and then, being at the teacher's home, collected intelligence for his comrades. The FSB officers will tell the teacher about all this during an interrogation on charges of complicity. They will force the woman to confess that she was recruited by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. She was also accused of attempting to murder a village deputy because it was on her phone that Storozhuk filmed a meeting where he was supposed to be, as the Ukrainian planned to meet with him.
Valentina was detained in March 2023, she went to pick up a package at Storozhuk's request, which contained explosive devices and a fake passport, of which she was unaware. As it turned out, the package had been intercepted by the FSB a week earlier, on the same day it arrived in Donetsk. Judging by the indictment, the security forces managed to learn about the cargo because it seemed suspicious to an intermediary recipient.
After the arrest, the FSB assigned a 24-hour convoy of four people to Zayarnaya. The teacher was effectively kept under house arrest, although no procedural restrictions were imposed on her. Formally, Valentina was not a suspect — the protocol of her detention was written only two weeks later.
According to Zayarnaya, a search of her house was conducted only a few days after her detention with the package. In the room where Storozhuk lived, grenades and plastic explosives were found, which he had taken with him from «Azovstal», and a grenade launcher was under the bed in a guitar case. The teacher did not know that the border guard stored weapons in her house. Storozhuk himself repeatedly confirmed this. However, the investigation had already drawn up the accusation narrative, in which she was an accomplice. Ultimately, tormented by constant threats, Zayarnaya agreed to sign the documents given to her, and finally being alone, she attempted to take her own life. «I signed everything without reading. After he left, I took 10 tablets of clonidine», the teacher recalled.
Storozhuk was detained and charged with several articles of the Criminal Code, including «terrorism», but since last year he has been free — he was sent to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange. And the teacher from Donetsk is being tried for «terrorism». She does not admit guilt.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».
Photo: Mediazona