The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv has extended the preventive measure for the former commander of the Kharkiv operational tactical group (OTG) Yuriy Halushkin. He will be held in custody until April 22.
This is reported by Suspilne from the courtroom.
The defendantʼs lawyer Dmytro Kruhovyi stated that allegedly "all defense ministers, all commanders-in-chief, starting in 2014, wrote letters supporting the characterization of General Halushkin", but the court did not take them into account.
According to the case materials, during the defense of the Lypetsk community in the Kharkiv region, Halushkin misjudged the enemyʼs potential and the situation at the front and, through his actions, contributed to the soldiers of the 125th Separate Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces voluntarily leaving the battlefield.
Investigators found that the former 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 went missing during the first day of the Russian offensive.
The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) notes that due to miscalculations in the command and the unauthorized withdrawal of fighters and certain units of the 125th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed 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 kilometers, which allowed them to again shell Kharkiv with artillery.
Halushkin is one of three senior military officials suspected of negligence in the defense of the Kharkiv region.
Halushkin himself noted that the fierce fighting along the entire front line and the losses — both in people and territory — were not because “the soldiers lacked courage or the commanders lacked professionalism”, but because the Russians were oblivious to their own losses. He said that he was ready to go to war as an ordinary soldier.
What preceded
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 “Kharkiv” Operational-Tactical Group, General Yuriy Halushkin;
- former commander of the 125th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade, General Artur Horbenko;
- former commander of the 415th separate rifle battalion of the 23rd separate mechanized brigade, Colonel Ilya Lapin.
The court remanded Halushkin and Lapin in custody on January 21, and Artur Horbenko on January 22. Already on January 22, bail of 5 million hryvnias was posted for Halushkin, but he was detained again on the same day.
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