Russia hands life sentences to eight in Kerch bridge bombing case, but real perpetrators remain at large
A Russian military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced eight people to life in prison over the 2022 Kerch bridge bombing, though an investigation suggests those convicted were unknowingly drawn into the scheme while the actual operatives remain uncaught.
On 27 November 2025, Russia's Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found eight people guilty over the 8 October 2022 explosion on the Kerch bridge and sentenced all of them to life imprisonment. The court treated them as an organized group allegedly recruited by Ukraine's armed forces.
The blast on the bridge linking Russia to occupied Crimea occurred at 6:03 a.m. Moscow time — one day after Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday. The explosive device was concealed in a truck's cargo of polyethylene film. According to available information, the bombing itself was carried out by taxi driver Denis Kovach together with previously convicted smuggler Mikhail Tsyurkalo; both remain on the wanted list.
Gaps in the investigation
Investigative outlet The Insider reports that nearly four years after the attack, Russian investigators still have not determined exactly what exploded or how it happened. Instead of conducting proper forensic work, the outlet says, investigators essentially copied Ukrainian intelligence's official statement about the operation into the case files. No Russian security service or customs official who allowed the explosives-laden cargo into the country has faced charges.
People swept up unknowingly
Those sentenced to life include farmers, logistics workers and a truck driver who, according to their own accounts and the outlet's reporting, were unaware they had become part of a smuggling scheme. One of the convicted, 55-year-old farmer Roman Solomko, had his company APK Green Line order an expensive fertilizer-processing line from China in the summer of 2022. By the time the shipment was ready, his company was already located in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson region, making the originally planned route through the port of Odesa impossible. After consulting Crimean businessmen, he chose to route the cargo through Georgia's port of Poti and then overland through Crimea to his property. Solomko traveled to Georgia with his neighbor, Denis Kovach, who — it turned out — had previously been involved in smuggling people from Ukraine into Georgia. The convicted are currently in custody awaiting the appeal process.
