Russia captures Czech citizen, he will be tried in Luhansk Republic

In August 2025, Russian forces captured Hoang Tran, a Czech citizen who was fighting as a volunteer on the Ukrainian side, according to Seznam zprávy. Tran, who also has Vietnamese citizenship, is due to face trial in the Luhansk People's Republic and faces seven to 15 years in prison, according to Russian sources.

This separatist republic has no international recognition.

His disappearance was brought to the attention of a person close to Tran when she stopped hearing from him. She later found videos on Reddit and YouTube in which she recognised the Czech-Vietnamese citizen. In the footage, he had burns and bandages and reportedly lost his wrist in an attack by Russian troops.

The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed that it was looking into the case intensively, but declined to give details because of the sensitivity of the situation. It did not comment on whether this was the first case of a Czech citizen being captured by Russia in the context of the war in Ukraine.

Tran reportedly served in the 60th Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian army and received training with the International Legion before his deployment. He was captured in the Red Lyman area.

(max)