Employees of the Ombudsmanʼs Office have not yet completed the verification of information about the abuse of military personnel in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelya". However, there is already one criminal case.
Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said this in an interview with "News Live".
According to him, the Ombudsmanʼs Office monitoring team worked on June 25-26 it the "Skelya" military unit. The Officeʼs employees visited the training ground and possible places where servicemen were illegally held. They also had the opportunity to communicate confidentially with the servicemen.
“Our investigation is not yet complete. But based on our materials, a criminal case has already been opened. As far as I know, the State Bureau of Investigation has already handed over the first suspicion. I know that it will not be the last. We have additional information about what happened in the places where ʼSkelyaʼ is deployed,” Lubinets said.
He noted that he has not encountered any cases of concealment of information and receives full assistance in conducting monitoring.
Whatʼs happening in "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. On July 7, Babel revealed seven more deaths of mobilized soldiers during exercises at “Skelya”.
After the Babel material, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) launched a pre-trial investigation. The regiment is staffed by a mission of 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. Commenting on this situation, communications officer from “Skelya” Oleksiy Bratushchak stated that threats against journalists are unacceptable, but servicemen also have the right to freedom of speech.
Babel appealed to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) because of these threats, but they refused to register the proceedings. At the same time, the Director of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksiy Sukhachev claimed the opposite — that the proceedings had indeed been opened.
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