A 39-year-old Lviv resident has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for stealing construction power tools and committing fraud over a wardrobe order in Sokilnyky, Lviv district in February 2025. This was reported by the Pustomyty District Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the case file, in early February the man entered the grounds of a residential complex in Sokilnyky at night, forced open a plastic door and broke into a commercial premises where electrical installation works were under way. From there he stole construction power tools, putting them into a bag. The value of the stolen property exceeded UAH 11,000.
At the end of February the same man responded to an advert for a cabinet maker to build a wardrobe, posted in a specialised online chatbot. Passing himself off as a tradesman, he met the customer in a shopping centre and received a cash advance of UAH 20,000, and the following day persuaded him to transfer a further UAH 2,000-plus to a bank card, allegedly to pay for cutting the timber.
For some time the defendant assured the victim that the wardrobe was supposedly already finished, postponing the delivery and installation date several times, after which he stopped making contact. The total amount of damage caused to the victims came to over UAH 33,500.
Prosecutors proved that the man had committed the covert theft of another person’s property with unlawful entry into premises during martial law, as well as repeat fraud (Part 4 of Article 185, Part 2 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He had previously been repeatedly prosecuted for property offences, in particular in 2021 he was sentenced to 4 years in prison for robbery, and in August 2025 another court sentenced him to 5 years’ imprisonment for theft committed under martial law, releasing him from serving the sentence subject to probation.
Under the current verdict, the court imposed a sentence of 6 years’ imprisonment. Until the verdict becomes final, the defendant will remain in custody. The pre-trial investigation was carried out by Police Department No. 3 of Police Division No. 2 of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv Region. The verdict will enter into legal force after the expiry of the time limit for lodging an appeal.