A court in Ternopil took into custody Colonel Oleh Poberezhniuk, the commander of the 211th Pontoon Bridge Brigade, who is suspected of abuse of power, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.
The court set the bail for Poberezhniuk at Hr 908,400 ($21,600).
He was 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.
On Dec. 16, Ukrainska Pravda reported that the unit's officers had beaten service members, extorted money from them, and even tied one soldier to a wooden cross as a punishment.
In response to the media investigation, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi ordered an inspection and suspended Poberezhniuk. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also ordered an investigation into the alleged abuse, extortion, and humiliation of soldiers.
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
(Updated: )
