Updated

Halyna Bekhter, a 68-year-old woman from Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was taken to hospital in Vologda, Russia, on 9 November after almost completely stopping eating, according to Astra. She is serving a sentence over a purported donation to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was held in Penal Colony No. 1 in Vologda. Ukrainska Pravda reported that she requires urgent care and is barely able to stand. Her lawyer, Irina Biryukova, who visited her, described her as extremely seriously ill, very thin, able to walk only slowly with support, and seemingly detached from her surroundings. Doctors are expected to diagnose her soon. Bekhter was detained in July 2025 after a neighbour informed on her. In March 2026 she was found guilty of providing financial assistance to a foreign state, over an alleged transfer of money to Ukraine's armed forces through a Ukrainian bank app. Prosecutors sought a longer term of 16 years, and on appeal the court raised her sentence to 12.5 years. Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Russian Human Rights Commissioner. Ukrainska Pravda also reported that cellmates had earlier described her health deteriorating, including possible progression of dementia, and said she had been force-fed and could not wash herself.