The commander of the 211th Pontoon-Bridge Brigade, Oleg Poberezhnyuk, was detained and taken to Kyiv. He was also informed of the suspicion that he did not react to the facts of bullying and torture of his subordinates.
This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigation.
Investigators found that from at least February to July 2024, the detainee knew that his subordinate officer was torturing and abusing the fighters, but did not react to this or raise the issue to hold the guilty officer accountable.
The State Bureau of Investigation notes that the senior lieutenant who beat and tortured the soldiers is the son of the chief of staff of the military unit and a close friend of the brigade commander.
What preceded
The Ukrainian Press published a story that Vladyslav Pastukh, the godson of the commander of the 211th Pontoon-Bridge Brigade, Oleg Poberezhnyuk, physically abused the soldiers of the battalion and demanded money for not drawing up reports on soldiers intoxicated. Subsequently, the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, initiated an investigation into these facts. At the same time, the commander of the military unit was suspended from his duties. The Main Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense also conducted an investigation into alleged abuse of soldiers and family contracts.
The General Staff reported that an official check had already been conducted in September of this year on certain facts reported by the Ukrainian Police. Based on its results, criminal proceedings were initiated. The General Staff did not specify what facts were in question, but presumably the case concerns an incident when Brigadier General Poberezhnyuk sent four soldiers to the Khmelnytskyi region to build him a house.
The Ternopil Specialized Prosecutorʼs Office for Defense launched a pre-trial investigation into the bullying case on December 16, 2024. The case is being conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation. Poberezhnyuk was reported on suspicion of abuse of office and was sent to custody on December 19 with the possibility of bail of over 908 thousand hryvnias. And on December 20, he was released from the pre-trial detention center — money was deposited for him.
- You can read more about the case of the 211th Pontoon-Bridge Brigade and what the command is accused of here.
- On December 26, the platoon commander of the 211th brigade was reported on suspicion of abusing subordinate soldiers. He was also put on the wanted list because he was hiding from the investigation.
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