In the evening of June 23, Bohdan Krotevych, the chief of staff of the 12th special forces brigade "Azov", announced on his social networks that he had submitted a statement to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) against the unnamed general.
Krotevych wrote that he "killed more Ukrainian soldiers than any other Russian general", so he is asking the SBI to open criminal proceedings and start an investigation. Krotevych noted that he does not care whether an investigation will be opened against him personally and whether he will be put behind bars.
"I donʼt care if they start an investigation against me, and I donʼt care if they put me in prison. I care that combatants and brigade commanders are judged for the loss of an observation post, but the general is not judged for the loss of regions and dozens of cities and the loss of thousands of soldiers," wrote the Chief of Staff.
Krotevych added that all military personnel understand what kind of person he is talking about, because "99% of military personnel hate him."
"This person initiates investigations against commanders who advance and do not lose ground, but he does not initiate official investigations against himself," he wrote.
The Chief of Staff noted that the military resort to public publicity when there are no other ways to influence the situation: "I got it, the Rubicon has been crossed. You need to understand that the military often resort to media publicity of directions that do not lead to a better life. Our form of government, unfortunately, is like this. At the moment, this is the only possibility to change the situation. This is a fact. I donʼt really care about myself. And the only thing Iʼll ever be ashamed of is that I didnʼt do it sooner."
The press service of the SBI confirmed to Babel that they had received Krotevychʼs statement. She is currently being studied, an investigator is working with her. Officially, the SBI does not say to whom exactly the statement was written.
A large number of military personnel and activists on social networks supported Krotevychʼs post and hinted that it is about General Yurii Sodol, who combines two positions — the commander of the United Forces and the commander of the “Khortytsia” Special Operations Command. Sodol was publicly criticized by the MP of the "Servant of the People" faction Mariana Bezuhla and bloggers Serhii Sternenko and Ihor Lachenkov. In fact, they called the general a criminal.