The girl is a citizen of Ukraine, originally from the city of Kherson. She studied in China, graduated from the university there in 2015, and in 2016 moved to Belarus. In Belarus she worked as a translator from Chinese.
Ekaterina was detained while crossing the Belarusian border. They demanded that she give her phone for verification; she provided it to the employees along with the passwords. Belarusian security forces found that on March 30, 2022, she sent 2 videos to the chatbot of the Zerkalo editorial office. The video showed the movement of Russian military equipment near Minsk, which she herself captured.
On December 12, 2023, the appeal was considered. The verdict came into force.
On the evening of June 28, 2024, sudden information appeared about the release of five political prisoners from Belarusian colonies. The Ukrainian authorities achieved the release of their exchange citizens as prisoners. This is how Natalya Zakharenko, Pavel Kuprienko, Lyudmila Goncharenko, Ekaterina Bryukhanova, as well as Nikolai Shvets, a defendant in the “Machulishchi case,” were released. The terms of the exchange were not disclosed. It is noted that the Vatican took part in the liberation. The released political prisoners were brought to Ukraine on June 28 - their photo from the Zhulyany airport appeared in the media.
