Butusov on detention of generals: Questions should not be to lower ranks, but to Zelenskyy, Syrskyi and Sodol
Instead of conducting an objective investigation into the Russian breakthrough in the Kharkiv region in 2024, officers and generals were detained and they want to blame these problems on some individual officials.
This was stated by Yurii Butusov, editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, in an interview with Radio NV.
"The tasks were set, they had to be fulfilled, and they failed for a number of reasons. And this failure is not just of individual officials, but of the entire management vertical. Why did this happen? Of course, it is necessary to find out the reasons in court in order to conduct meaningful investigations.
First, as we have discussed many times on air, the Ukrainian army does not apply NATO standards, so there is no professional analysis of operations - the After Action Review procedure. And it is possible to draw any conclusions in order not to repeat mistakes only within the framework of criminal cases," the journalist explained.
He believes that a trial into the reasons for the failure of defence in the Kharkiv region is necessary.
"Now, if the government's goal is to determine responsibility and prevent such mistakes from happening again in the future, we need to understand that we should not immediately appoint a scapegoat in this situation, but establish the entire chain of people who were in charge, gave orders, controlled, and they should all answer these questions in court.
The main thing that causes surprise and indignation is that instead of conducting an objective investigation, officers and generals have been detained and they want to pin these problems on some individual officials. This does not mean justice, that conclusions will be drawn. This means that a show is being made and that individual servicemen are simply humiliated," Butusov added.
According to Butusov, there is a chain defined by orders.
"General Halushkin, the commander of the OTG "Kharkiv", was appointed a month before the start of the offensive in April 2024. He was appointed by Syrskyi, and Zelenskyy approved this decision. On 9 April, Zelenskyy personally visited the area where the OTG "Kharkiv" was operating. He checked the readiness to repel the offensive, checked the readiness of defensive structures, found the inspection satisfactory and left. Chairman Syniehubov repeatedly reported on the high readiness to repel an attack and the preparation of defensive structures and defence lines. And now Halushkin, the commander of the 125th Brigade, Horbenko, are the only one who are being accused of these claims. I think this is unfair. It is also strange why the commander in this area, General Sodol, who was then the commander of the OSGT "Khortytsia" and who had visited the command posts of the OTG "Kharkiv" and 125th Brigades several times on the eve of the Russian offensive, checked the readiness of the troops and found everything satisfactory, has not been brought to justice. There were no questions. Now they have no complaints against him either. Only to the people who were in charge at lower levels," he concluded.
Read more about the situation with the detention of military commanders in the article by Censor.NET's editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov.
