Updated: Defense Ministry to investigate alleged abuse of service members in engineering brigade
Editor's note: The article was updated with a statement by the prosecutor's office.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov on Dec. 16 ordered an investigation into the alleged abuse, extortion, and humiliation of soldiers in the 211th Pontoon Bridge Brigade by their commanders.
The announcement comes after Ukrainska Pravda reported that the unit's officers have beaten service members, extorted money from them, and even tied one soldier to a wooden cross as a punishment.
Umerov ordered the ministry's main inspectorate to investigate Ukrainska Pravda's revelations, adding that such behavior would be "unacceptable in the third year of the war."
"My position as a minister is clear: all those responsible must be punished."
Defense Ministry spokesperson Dmytro Lazutkin said that the department had not received any reports of abuse of soldiers in the brigade. He described the commanders' alleged behavior as "shameful" and "contradicting the basic principles of building a modern Ukrainian army."
At the same time, Lazutkin said these cases do not happen on a "massive" scale.
"The Ukrainian military consists of over a million service members. Various cases happen. We had no information about these cases," Lazutkin told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
In response to the media investigation, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also ordered an inspection and suspended Colonel Oleh Poberezhniuk, the brigade commander.
State prosecutors have initiated an investigation into a possible abuse of power by the unit's officers.
Poberezhniuk was also charged with abuse of office after he allegedly had four of his subordinates help build his house in Khmelnytskyi Oblast in the fall of 2023. While performing the service for Poberezhniuk, the four service members received full salaries and combat payments and were officially listed in a working visit to Mykolaiv Oblast.
The 211th Brigade, formed in August 2023, performs engineering work, builds defenses in the rear, and does not participate in direct combat.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, the cases of abuse surfaced after the start of official checks in the spring of 2024.
The outlet's sources named now-Captain Vladyslav Pastukh, Poborezhniuk's godson and the son of the unit's chief of staff, as one of the main perpetrators. The officer was said to have extorted money from soldiers on account of being related to the unit's most senior officers.
Though Pastukh no longer serves in the unit, the media investigation identified almost a dozen cases of fathers and sons or husbands and wives serving together in the 211th Brigade.
The revelations come as Ukraine faces mounting challenges in replenishing the ranks of its Armed Forces, facing low enlistment rates and even cases of desertion. Mykhailo Drapatyi, the new commander of the Ground Forces, recently announced wide-ranging reforms focusing on recruitment and training.
Elsa Court
