14 years behind bars: Criminal authority Kozlov sentenced in Kharkiv for attempted attack on police officer

The Kyiv District Court of the city of Kharkiv found proven the guilt of intentional destruction/damage to property (Part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and encroachment on the life of a lieutenant colonel of the National Police (Article 348 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) by 41-year-old local criminal element Mykhailo Kozlov, sentencing him to a final punishment of 14 years of imprisonment. The corresponding verdict on March 31, 2026, was issued by the panel of judges consisting of presiding judge Svitlana Demchenko (who in her separate opinion expressed the position on the existence of grounds for acquitting the accused under the "murderous article") and participating judges - Yana Hubska and Svitlana Kolesnyk.

This is reported by Detective-Info.

(Mykhailo Kozlov)

This concerns the story of the attempt on the life of Oleksiy Lohvinenko, who was then the head of one of the departments of the Criminal Investigation Department of the region, committed at the beginning of 2019. On the morning of January 16, he left the house to walk the dog before going to work, and in the yard of the high-rise building, attackers with covered faces shot the law enforcement officer.

The first of the attackers (whom the victim dubbed a "monster") without unnecessary formalities immediately sent "greetings" to Oleksiy Oleksandrovych by knocking out the opponent with a punch to the head. And after the law enforcement officer came to his senses and tried to catch up with the offender - he pulled a traumatic revolver from his jacket pocket and fired a series of shots. The wounded Logvinenko lost consciousness and fell to the ground, while the shooter, along with his accomplice, began to "beat" the victim with their feet, and eventually fled the scene by car.

It should be noted that despite statements made hot on the heels by some high-ranking officials about identifying the customer(s) of the brazen attack on Oleksiy Lohvinenko, the official suspicion of involvement in the crime, as previously reported on the pages of Detective-Info, "caught up" with Mykhailo Kozlov as its executor in May 2022.

By that time, Kozlov had already been in custody for almost a year on charges of involvement in other brazen criminal exploits. It involved the arson of two cars belonging to Kharkiv entrepreneur Serhiy Zavhorodniy and an attempt on the life of an operative from the regional department of strategic investigations of the National Police, Serhiy Kovalchuk. Criminals stuck an axe into the hood of the latter’s vehicle and in July 2020 sent a message "Good evening! See you soon)) This meeting will be unforgettable for you! Hugs tightly)))", which was interpreted as veiled threats.

For these exploits, at the end of July 2021, law enforcers "suspected" Mykhailo Kozlov and two of his accomplices. These were well-known figures in the criminal circles of Kharkiv region: Oleksandr Ninoshvili and Serhiy Ryabchun.

At the stage of consideration of the combined proceedings by the court on the merits, Kozlov, his brother-in-law Ninoshvili, and the latter’s classmate Ryabchun denied all accusations against them. However, the panel of judges unanimously concluded that the guilt of the trio in the arson of the businessman’s cars was proven, sentencing them to 5, 4, and 4 years of imprisonment for these episodes.

(From left to right: Serhiy Ryabchun, Mykhailo Kozlov, and Oleksandr Ninoshvili)

In addition, the court acquitted Kozlov on the part of the accusations of allegedly intending to murder Kovalchuk, while simultaneously closing the episode of damaging the car with an axe due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for holding accountable. And the most intriguing moment in the case with a convoluted plot turned out to be the story of the attempt on Logvinenko.

The latter stated that he recognized Kozlov "by the shape and color of the eyes, by the look" as one of his attackers during the events of January 16, 2019. And he reported that fate had already brought him together with Mykhailo Mykhailovych at least twice before for official purposes. The red thread of communication between the law enforcement officer and the recidivist in both cases was the persona of 43-year-old leader of the "Zalutinskyi" OC, criminal authority Leonid Mitrov, nicknamed "Mitrusha".

(Leonid Mitrov)

Oleksiy Logvinenko claimed that it was precisely to expose "Mitrusha" that he personally "built bridges" with Kozlov around 2015-2016. And in May 2018, during a "shmon" (search) of Mykhailo Mykhailovych, information surfaced that the dignitary, after release from pre-trial detention, fell under the influence of the group led by Mitrov.

The victim’s colleagues added more colors to this in their testimonies. Employees of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police in Kharkiv region recalled that during 2017-2019, they were actively documenting the exploits of two powerful OCs in the region that specialized in property crimes and illegal seizure of vehicles, respectively. The leaders of these gangs actively involved Kozlov as a prominent representative of the "enforcement wing," and in parallel - passed unambiguous proposals to law enforcement to "settle," and later - threats.

It involved the frontman of the "zalutinsky" Mitrov, as well as another well-known criminal authority in Kharkiv region Vadym Izotov, nicknamed "Izot."

"Mitrusha," as previously reported on the pages of Detective-Info, shortly after the attempt on Oleksiy Logvinenko, at the initiative of the criminal investigation department, was declared wanted. However, no official claims of the authority’s involvement in ordering the murder attempt on the law enforcement officer have been made against Leonid Valeriyovych to this day.

As for "Izot," the wanted profile of this authority was also updated by Kharkiv law enforcers shortly after the bloody incident of January 16, 2019.

During the detention of the dignitary in Sumy in the fall of 2020, among Vadym Borysovych’s belongings, a photograph was found showing three operatives from the Kharkiv region’s CID, including Oleksiy Lohvinenko. Moreover - already behind bars, Izotov allegedly told the "cops," "You got this for your work!" in the context of the story of the attempt to liquidate the police lieutenant colonel.

(Vadym Izotov)

It should be noted that in the end, neither Izotov nor Mitrov were officially charged with involvement in the bloody events of January 16, 2019. In November 2021, the authority managed to be released on bail, but shortly after the start of the full-scale military invasion of the Russian army into Ukraine, Vadym Borysovych disappeared from the radar in the Derhachi area.

Later, in the network, a chronology of events that allegedly happened to "Izot" on March 22, 2022, on the way out of Kharkiv was posted. The authors of the corresponding interpretation suggested: near one of the checkpoints, the criminal authority was abducted, possibly tortured/wounded, and later - his car was demonstratively burned.

It was noted that those possibly involved in the "capture" of Izotov and his subsequent transportation could be employees of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police. Be that as it may, at the beginning of 2023, the profile of the criminal authority in the database of missing persons on the Ministry of Internal Affairs website disappeared.