The Kyiv Court of Appeal convened its inaugural session regarding the homicide of 16-year-old Maksym Materukhin at a funicular railway stop. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko stated that the prosecutor's standpoint remains consistent – a lifetime prison sentence.
Today, the Kyiv Court of Appeal oversaw the preliminary proceeding in the matter of the slaying of 16-year-old Maksym Materukhin at a Kyiv inclined railway terminal. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko communicated this information, underscoring the prosecution’s steadfast stance: a lifetime behind bars, UNN reports.
Details
The Prosecutor General provided enhanced specifics concerning the advancement of the initial hearing at the Kyiv Court of Appeal – encompassing the defendant’s endeavors to transition the litigation to a secluded proceeding, blatant subterfuges, and attempts to circumvent culpability through novel narratives.
At the very commencement of the judicial process, the accused individual and their legal team endeavored to shift the proceedings to a private forum: they submitted a proposal to proscribe photographic and video documentation for mass media entities. I extend gratitude to the judiciary for considering the assertions of the state’s prosecution and legal representatives of the aggrieved parties and for dismissing this request. This constitutes a matter of considerable public import. And I am convinced: the populace maintains the prerogative to stay informed on the unfolding events in the courtroom.
– Kravchenko emphasized.
It is worth noting that the defendant’s legal counsel is contesting the judgment rendered by the preliminary judicial body on September 22, 2025.
My posture as a prosecuting attorney in this action is grounded and resolute: the pronouncement of the Shevchenkivskyi District Tribunal stands as lawful and wholly justified. Absence of contrition. Throughout the duration of the entire trial, neither in articulation nor conduct was there any expression of remorse or acknowledgement of the deed committed. No alteration has transpired today. Merely audacity and cynical machinations.
– the Prosecutor General underscored.
According to Kravchenko, the defendant is once again offering conflicting accounts: within the video recorded by the police officer’s body-worn camera, he unequivocally stated that he “determined to execute a hip thrust.”
Today within the court, we were subjected to another account concerning an “inadvertent tumble,” succeeded by an additional assertion: purportedly, Maksym was “accidentally propelled by a third party.” Witnesses corroborated: the deeds were deliberate. The findings from the comprehensive forensic, criminalistic, and trace evaluations are unambiguous: Maksym’s trauma stemmed from the accused’s intentional behaviors. The proposition involving negligence or accident is dismissed.
– he appended.
The Prosecutor General further accentuated that there exist no “ambiguous zones” within this legal matter.
There exists a murdered juvenile. And there must be accountability, from which no revised interpretation can offer refuge.
– Kravchenko concluded.
Context
On April 8, 2024, Artem Kosov received official notification of suspicion pertaining to the intentional killing of a teenager. As determined by the inquiry, the event transpired at the upper terminal of the cable railway leading toward the edifice housing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. Kosov, while in an inebriated condition, initiated aggressive interactions with a cohort of adolescents, among whom was Maksym Materukhin. Kosov shoved the 16-year-old youth, who succumbed to the injuries incurred from the resultant fall.
On September 22, the Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv adjudicated Artem Kosov to confinement for life due to the homicide of Materukhin on a funicular. The prosecution petitioned for the maximum punitive measure against the defendant. At that juncture, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko conveyed that the prosecution concerning the demise of the teenager at a capital inclined railway was primed to lodge an appeal.
Addition
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko articulated a recommendation concerning the imperative for instituting a non-negotiable penalty entailing lifetime incarceration for particularly grave infractions against minors. He presented a plea to the Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee advocating for backing of the pertinent initiative and instituting such a consequence for the homicidal elimination and sexual assault of children.
Currently, life imprisonment is stipulated in extraordinary circumstances, most recurrently constituting a sentence involving 15 years of penal confinement, at times incorporating the possibility of diminishing the sentence duration.
It warrants inclusion that the prosecutor’s office is vehemently pursuing the severest sanction allowable – a life sentence for heinous misdeeds perpetrated against children.