The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has detained a soldier of "Skelya" suspected of beating two other servicemen in the Kharkiv region. SBI did not name him, but according to Babel, it is Yevhen Harkusha.
This was reported by the press service of the State Bureau of Investigation.
According to the investigation, the first incident occurred in May 2025 near one of the villages in the Izyum district, when after a combat mission, soldiers from another unit arrived at the location of the “Skelya” deployment.
Then a conflict arose between the servicemen over the placement of weapons and personnel. The military chaplain intervened in the conflict and offered to resolve it at the commandersʼ level, but the suspect hit him several times, injuring him. He was later hospitalized with a concussion and a fractured jaw.
Then, in June 2025, investigators say, the same man attacked a lieutenant colonel in Barvinkove. The suspected junior sergeant knocked the officer down and began punching and kicking him in the head and torso, breaking his rib.
The suspect was charged with violating the statutory rules of relations between military personnel, as well as violence against a commander. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
Whatʼs happening at "Skelya"
On June 23, Babel published a major investigation into the situation in the 425th Assault Regiment “Skelya”. We interviewed more than 30 witnesses, mostly relatives of those mobilized to “Skelya”, as well as a dozen soldiers from the regiment who escaped or are still serving there.
Babel identified 25 deaths in the regiment’s training centers over the past six months, and also described cases of torture and abuse of those undergoing training.
Following the Babel material, the State Bureau of Investigation launched a pre-trial investigation into the facts made public by Babel. The regiment is staffed by a mission from the Ombudsmanʼs Office and a comprehensive commission headed by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On June 24, the commander of the 425th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Yuriy Harkavy, was suspended from duty for the duration of the inspection.
On June 25, a serviceman from “Skelya” Mykola “Kyianyn” Kharkhan recorded a video threatening Babel. He called the Babel journalist who prepared an investigation into the deaths and torture in “Skelya” a “journalist whore”, and Babel itself a “Russian office publication” working for [Russian] cash, and stated that the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine can defend themselves and “will have to vomit money.”
Commenting on this situation, communications officer of "Skelya" Oleksiy Bratuschak stated that threats to journalists are unacceptable, but servicemen also have the right to freedom of speech.
On July 7, Babel discovered seven more deaths of mobilized soldiers during exercises in “Skelya”. Six of them, like the previous 25, occurred within six months — from the end of autumn 2025 to the spring of 2026. One — in the summer of last year. Most of the mobilized soldiers died after spending less than a month in the regiment. In total, from the end of autumn last year to the spring of 2026, the editorial office recorded 31 deaths.
The Director of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksiy Sukhachev stated that before the Babel material, the State Bureau of Investigation had not received information about possible torture in “Skelya” either from the command or from other services.
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