A local Marxist in the southern Ukrainian city of Pervomaisk, Bogdan Syrotiuk, was arrested by the SBU on 25 April. He is being held in a high security prison in Mykolaiv under poor conditions under charges of treason and aiding the Russian invasion. Some of our comrades have known Bogdan for a number of years, and it is clear that these are made up charges by Ukrainian state security against a known left activist in the area.
Symonenko fled to Russia in March 2022 and became a deputy head of an international alliance of communist parties, according to Ukrainian investigators.
Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs has issued a warrant for Petro Symonenko, leader of the banned Communist Party of Ukraine, declaring him missing since Aug. 19, 2023, on the ministry’s official website.
Despite the imposition of restrictions on close associates of runaway former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych by the United States, Ukraine has yet to follow suit, as the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) has not imposed sanctions on a dozen contentious politicians from the Yanukovych era.
Speaking from Kyiv, Vladyslav Starodubtsev, an activist with Ukrainian socialist organisation Social Movement, addressed the Sydney launch of Ukraine Resists! Left Voices on Putin’s War, NATO and the Future of Ukraine.