Law enforcement officers declared the suspicion to three suspects in the case of planting drugs in the ex-combatant of “Magura” Shyrshyn

Law enforcement officers have declared suspicions against three servicemen from one of the brigades of a separate assault regiment in the case of planting drugs to former battalion commander of the 47th “Magura” Separate Assault Brigade Oleksandr Shyrshyn.

This is reported by the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO) and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).

Investigators claim that three former law enforcement officers (now military) conspired with others to spy on Shyrshyn. On the night of August 28, they planted nearly 30 packages of cannabis and PVP in his car.

Then, according to investigators, they passed the "tip" to law enforcement officers, after which the ex-combatantʼs car was checked in Kharkiv.

SBI claims that the suspectsʼ goal was to "discredit the commander".

They were charged with illegal drug trafficking, aiding and abetting, illegal collection and use of confidential information, and incitement to bring a knowingly innocent person to criminal liability.

What preceded

On August 28, Oleksandr Shyrshyn wrote that he had been given weed. During the search, the police also began to accuse him of being under the influence of some substances.

After that, in a comment to Babel, he suggested that the commander of the 225th Special Operations Division Oleh Shyriayev, with whom he has a long-standing conflict, may be involved in the incident.

"I have no more conflicts with anyone except 225 and 425," he said.

On the same day, the head of the investigation department in the Kharkiv region Andriy Sharnin said that the police detained Shyrshyn because they received information from the Military Law Enforcement Service that he was allegedly selling drugs in a military unit in Kharkiv.

Law enforcement officers also opened a case against the ex-combatant for the illegal manufacture, storage, or sale of drugs.

The next day, Shyrshyn stated that before the drug-planting incident, unknown individuals had tried to break into his home twice and had been following him for several months.

Oleksandr Shyrshynʼs conflict with the command

In May 2025, Shyrshyn submitted a report for dismissal and publicly accused the command of "moronic" tasks and unjustified loss of life.

He later said that during the battles in Kursk and on the Ukrainian-Russian border, he repeatedly faced "doomed to failure" tasks that exposed personnel to the risk of unjustified losses. Shyrshyn noted that he created the post as a call to change approaches to management and adequately assess oneʼs capabilities.

In response to Shyrshynʼs statement, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine created a working group to study the circumstances mentioned by the military. They promised to "make appropriate decisions" based on the results of the inspection.

In June of the same year, Shyrshyn wrote that in the conclusion after the inspection, he was called "undisciplined" and accused of spreading official information on social networks. A year later, in August 2026, Shyrshynʼs "undisciplined" status was canceled.

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