Update: VFP Advisory Board Member Yurii Sheliazhenko Under Legal Attack in Ukraine
Veterans For Peace members should be informed that Yurii Sheliazhenko, a member of our Advisory Board and a respected Ukrainian pacifist and conscientious objector, is currently facing legal persecution in Ukraine.
Veterans For Peace affirms the right of conscience and stands in solidarity with Yurii and all peace advocates whose voices are under threat. You can send Yurii messages of support at shelya.work@gmail.com and learn more about the Ukrainin government legal persecution below after the updates.
Updates from Yurii:
26 February 2026
I received an SMS saying that the next trial is scheduled 13 May 2026.
Among other updates:
Interview to The Progressive Magazine
I heard also an insight that the Ministry of Defense pushes for an idea of some sort of non-combatant service to conscientious objectors and harsh punishments for those who have objections to any military service. It is not compliant with the international human rights standards and Constitution of Ukraine.
In peace from Kyiv
Yurii
18 February 2026
“My trial today was postponed again by request of the prosecutor. Next date will be known when I receive the SMS.”
“Another news is that yesterday there was a conversation in the Office of the President of Ukraine regarding the "expediency" of alternative nonmilitary service in time of war. Conversation in a close circle of officials from several ministries and the army's general staff. Daniel Bischof, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, was also there and spoke. Civil society and churches were not invited, but, to my knowledge, consulted informally by some friendly official. I helped in preparing a position in support of respecting human rights and offered detailed critical legal analysis, conclusions, and proposals regarding a very raw and restrictive draft law that was obviously written haphazardly, not to adopt it but to formally report "we done a homework" and bury the issue in red tape. To my knowledge, an official from the religious regulator DESS at the meeting said something among what I wrote in my conclusions: the draft law must be reworked thoroughly. According to the Ministry of Economy, the DESS, the Ombudsman (yes, despite the ugly response to me!), and the Ministry of Justice are for the reform (allowing alternative service in wartime), but the Ministry of Defense is against - I have it written in a letter, not only from retelling of the meeting.”
“Anyway, at least some officials are more or less ready for reforms. But not the Ministry of Defense that remains a stubborn opponent of the alternative service in time of war. At the end of the conversation, the President's deputy chief aide, Iryna Vereshchuk, said that officials have one month to "resolve a problem in a way that suits believers but not harmful to the defense". It seems the MoD will have the last word, and that makes me worry whether the human right to conscientious objection will be respected at all.”
About Yurii Sheliazhenko and the situation
Sheliazhenko is the executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, a long-standing peace organization advocating for the human right to conscientious objection to military service. In August 2023, Ukrainian authorities searched his home in Kyiv and formally charged him with “justifying Russian aggression,” despite his longstanding and explicit condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The charge is connected to a peace statement that also called for a ceasefire, peaceful resolution, and the protection of the right to refuse military service. (Democracy Now!)
Sheliazhenko has publicly rejected the allegation, calling it “total nonsense” to accuse a pacifist of supporting war, and has reported that the investigation began after authorities reviewed his writings on conscientious objection and peace. (Democracy Now!)
International peace, human rights, and conscientious objection organizations have condemned the charges and urged Ukrainian authorities to drop all charges and respect freedom of expression and the right to conscientious objection. (wri-irg.org)
Yurii remains in Ukraine while proceedings continue, his case drawing concern from international civil society about the shrinking space for dissent and the protection of fundamental human rights even during wartime. (freedomofconscience.eu)