Irina Levchenko, the abducted Ukrainian journalist, has been transferred to the Donetsk remand centre: what is known

This was reported to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) by her sister, Olena Rudenko, who received a letter from Iryna. Prior to this, Levchenko had written that she was due to be transferred from Krasnodar to Rostov-on-Don.

“We haven’t been in touch with her since the beginning of July. We were waiting for her to arrive in Rostov. But today a letter arrived: Irina is already in the Donetsk remand centre,” the journalist’s sister, Olena Rudenko, told the NUJU.

According to her, Irina’s previous message in early July gave reason to expect a transfer from the Krasnodar detention centre to Rostov-on-Don. Whether she was actually there and why the occupying forces transferred her to Donetsk remains unknown to the family.

“We don’t understand why they’ve been shuttling her back and forth. We don’t even know whether she was actually in Rostov at all, or whether they took her there,” says Elena Rudenko.

According to her, Irina was woken up without any warning at midnight in the detention centre and taken away. She coped well with the journey to Donetsk.

She says almost nothing about her conditions of detention or her health, except to complain of problems with her teeth and that her hair is falling out.

Incidentally, the occupiers had previously held Irina Levchenko in Donetsk Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 1. It was from there, in July 2025, that she was able to send her first message to her family following her abduction by Russian security forces in May 2023 in Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) and two years of complete isolation.

Yelena Rudenko also reports that, due to constant transfers, Irina Levchenko missed one of the court hearings. There have already been four in her case.

“We had expected the final court hearing to finally take place in Rostov. But once again, there has been no verdict and no trial,” notes Rudenko.

According to her, the Russian authorities have not brought any official charges against Iryna Levchenko: “There are no official documents to that effect; the case is classified.”

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