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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Evening of 17 January, Zaporizhzhia. A Ukrainian serviceman came to a date with Ksyusha, whom he had met in “Daivynchyk.” They agreed to meet near her building entrance and then go to a café.
A few hours earlier, Illia Dotsenko had bought a combat knife and headed to the same address. The date did not happen. But neither did a murder.
Sledstvo.Info tells the story of this crime and the recruitment behind it.
At the end of November 2025, Illia Dotsenko wrote in one of Zaporizhzhia’s Telegram groups that he was looking for odd jobs during his leave. Although he spoke of being on leave, in fact he was not officially or permanently employed anywhere. A stranger replied to the message with an offer to set fire to any serviceman’s car for 20 000 hryvnias.
Illia agreed. On 28 November he was sent 500 hryvnias — in installments and from different accounts. With that money the man bought fuel, tape, and gloves.
In the evening Illia went to look for a target to burn. He noticed a sticker on the windshield of a Ford Focus — a red circle indicating military intelligence. The man photographed the car and sent it to the “employer.” The employer agreed.
Around one a.m. on 30 November Illia returned to the car. He poured fuel on the windshield, hood, and front wheel, and set the car on fire. He recorded the moment of setting the fire on video and sent it to the client.
But the stranger did not immediately believe that Illia had actually carried out the task. In the morning he asked the man to return to the car and show it during a video call. Only after that were the promised 20 000 hryvnias deposited to Illia’s account.
"It was friendly correspondence."
A few days later the handler wrote again. This time with an offer to burn a diesel locomotive or an electric locomotive.
So on 5 December Illia went onto the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia-Live classification railway station and found a TEM-18 diesel locomotive. He photographed it and sent the picture to the client. The client agreed and transferred 2 thousand hryvnias for supplies.
Illia bought two five-liter canisters, gasoline, gloves, and a hammer. That same day, almost at midnight, he went to the station, but the locomotive was no longer there. He waited about 40 minutes and went home. He informed the “employer” of the failed attempt. The employer was dissatisfied and, according to Illia, began insulting him.
"It was friendly correspondence: they called each other ‘good job,’ ‘handsome.’ Of course, when Illia didn’t complete the task, they might have yelled at him," prosecutor Serhii Nesterenko told the Sledstvo.Info journalist.
Later at trial Illia claimed that he allegedly did not realize he was committing arson or what the consequences could be. He also believed the stranger was from Kyiv, because the man understood Surzhyk, even though he himself spoke only Russian without an accent.
Twelve stab wounds
After the failed arson attempt the “employer” offered Illia to kill a person for $5000. At first the man refused, saying he didn’t have time. But a few days later the client sent him a photo of a Ukrainian serviceman. The handler said this man was a “dealer,” “rips people off” and was in the SZN. Illia was offered $7000 for him. This time he agreed. Prosecutor Nesterenko says Illia was to choose the method of killing himself. Likewise, he was not given the victim’s name — only the address and time. He was supposed to be there at 5 o’clock in the evening on 17 January. That same day Illia received 4 thousand hryvnias and bought a combat knife, a mobile phone, and a SIM card.
At this time the unknown serviceman was going to a date with Ksyusha. They had started corresponding in “Daivynchyk” — a Telegram chat for dating. That same day the woman suggested meeting near her building and then going to a café.
At about 17:00 the serviceman was already in place. Ksyusha asked him to come to the building entrance on the corner — she supposedly wanted to see him from the window. The man became suspicious because there were no windows facing that side. Still, he did as the woman asked.
He approached the lit part of the yard, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back — he had been stabbed. Then — stabbed in the chest as well. It was Illia Dotsenko. A struggle began between him and the serviceman.
The man resisted, screamed, and tried to take the knife away. Eventually he succeeded. Dotsenko took back the knife, but the serviceman pulled the balaclava off him. Illia became afraid that the man had seen his face and tried to run. He discarded the knife on the way, lost his phone, but called the handler and said he had committed the murder. The handler demanded proof: a photo of the body.
So Illia returned to the building entrance where he had left the serviceman, but there was already an ambulance and a crowd had gathered. The man went toward a supermarket, hid from passersby, took off his jeans, threw them into one trash bin, and threw his bag into another. In fresh clothes he went to a public transport stop.
The next day the client again demanded proof of the killing. Illia tried to find the lost phone but could not. The handler began accusing and threatening him. To “restore trust,” the stranger suggested burning another two or three military vehicles. But Illia did not have time to do this — law enforcement officers came for him that night.
On the other side of the screen
Illia was spotted on surveillance cameras; his movements were confirmed by phone billing. Law enforcement seized the phone and examined the messages. Illia’s communication with the “employer” lasted about three months — from the end of November 2025 to January 2026. Thanks to these messages investigators established a link between the attempt on the serviceman’s life and the earlier arsons.
But the investigation did not establish who exactly gave Illia the tasks and paid for them. Prosecutor Serhii Nesterenko said the stranger communicated with Illia from several accounts registered to foreign numbers. It is not currently known for certain whether the client was a Russian citizen or a representative of Russian special services. Materials regarding him have been separated into a separate criminal proceeding.
The serviceman whom Illia tried to kill survived after 12 stab wounds and testified against the attacker at trial. Illia admitted guilt, apologized, and said he regretted what he had done. He also apologized to the victim who owned the burned car. Illia stated that at first he did not realize the possible consequences and agreed to the tasks for money. At the same time he chose the method of killing himself, which requires a direct attack and contact with the victim. The verdict does not say whether a psychiatric examination was conducted, but it notes that Illia was not registered with a narcologist or psychiatrist.
In July the Zavodskyi District Court of Zaporizhzhia found Illia guilty of intentional damage to another’s property, preparation of sabotage, and attempted murder. He was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Вдарив військового 12 разів ножем за гроші: історія одного вербування в Запоріжжі". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Slidstvo.Info.
