Former commander of the Kharkiv Operational Tactical Group Yuriy Galushkin was detained after being released from pre-trial detention center. He will be informed of the new suspicion.
This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigation.
The State Bureau of Investigation does not name the detainee, but the details of the case suggest that it is Galushkin.
The State Border Service notes that during the defense of the Lyptsi community in the Kharkiv region, Galushkin misjudged the enemyʼs potential and the situation and, through his actions, contributed to the unauthorized abandonment of the battlefield by fighters of the 125th Separate Brigade of the Ukrainian Defense Army.
Investigators found that the commander ignored intelligence, assessed the Russian offensive as “unlikely,” and gave orders that did not reflect the real situation on the front. As a result, almost 100 Ukrainian soldiers were wounded, killed, or missing during the first day of the Russian offensive.
The SBI claims that due to miscalculations in the command and the unauthorized withdrawal of fighters and certain units of the 125th Brigade of the Ukrainian Defense Forces from their occupied positions, the troops lost the strategic initiative. As a result, the Russians were able to penetrate the brigadeʼs defense zone to a distance of up to 10 km, which allowed them to again shell Kharkiv with artillery.
At the same time, Galushkin is one of three high-ranking military officials suspected of negligence in the defense of the Kharkiv region. Today, January 22, he was released from pre-trial detention after posting a 5 million hryvnia bail.
What preceded this
On January 20, law enforcement officers detained three military personnel suspected of negligence in organizing the defense of the Kharkiv region in 2024. We are talking about:
- former commander of the Operational-Tactical Group "Kharkiv", General Yuriy Galushkin;
- former commander of the 125th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, General Artur Gorbenko;
- former commander of the 415th separate rifle battalion of the 23rd separate mechanized brigade, Colonel Ilya Lapin.
On January 21, the court remanded Galushkin and Lapin in custody, and on the 22nd, Artur Gorbenko. And already on January 22, a bail of 5 million hryvnias was posted for Galushkin, but he was detained again on the same day.