Butusov on detention of military commanders
The stream is dedicated to the high-profile case of the detention of military commanders. Today (21.01.2025 - ed.), an operation was conducted against a group of military personnel by the military counterintelligence forces of the Security Service and the State Bureau of Investigation. A number of military commanders were detained. First of all, it is Brigadier General Yurii Halushkin, the former commander of OTG (Operational Tactical Group) 'Kharkiv'. Secondly, Lieutenant General Artur Horbenko, former commander of the 125th Lviv Territorial Defense Brigade, former commander of the 415th Rifle Battalion Illia Lapin, and former commander of the 155th Anne of Kyiv Mechanized Brigade Dmytro Riumshyn.
First, about the situation at the front
It is critical in several areas of the frontline and attention must be paid to this. The situation of our troops, who are actually in an operational encirclement in Velyka Novosilka, is very difficult. This is an extremely threatening situation. Our troops continue heavy fighting near Kurakhove. They are practically surrounded by the enemy on both flanks. The situation there is very unfavorable for us. And the enemy continues offensive actions near Pokrovsk. The situation there is threatening. The enemy is now just 4 kilometers away from the Pokrovsk-Dnipro highway, a vital supply line. This main road is at serious risk of being completely cut off. Therefore, the situation at the front is extremely challenging. Heavy fighting is also ongoing in Toretsk. In fact, the enemy has already managed to capture almost the entire city. Additionally, the enemy has seized most of the town of Chasiv Yar and is now advancing toward the Konstiantynivka direction. The situation remains dire in the Lyman direction, where the enemy continues offensive operations, attempting to push our forces entirely out of the Oskil bridgehead. Intense battles are also taking place in the Kursk region, where Russian forces persist in their efforts to attack and destroy our grouping, which is tasked with defending Ukraine’s borders and maintaining control over the buffer zone in the Kursk region.
The detention of the military definitely requires comment
This is an unprecedented event. Earlier, in 2014, suspicion was served against the Chief of Staff of the ATO forces, General Nazarov. And now this case. I would like to remind you that this is the case of Nazarov, who was responsible for sending troops to the Luhansk airport, where a plane was shot down and several dozen Ukrainian servicemen were killed. The plane was not covered, it was sent to the target area. A high-profile trial lasted for several years, and the Supreme Court, under absolutely dubious circumstances, absolved General Nazarov of all responsibility and acquitted him. And now we have two cases at once in which high-ranking officials and military officers have been brought to justice.
So, what did the Security Service of Ukraine say about the case of Generals Halushkin and Horbenko? The SSU and the SBI detained the generals responsible for the unsuccessful defense of the Kharkiv region during the ruscists offensive in 2024. I quote the SSU statement: "SSU and SBI, with the assistance of the Minister of Defense and - I want to emphasize - with the assistance of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, that is, Oleksandr Syrskyi, documented the crimes of three officials of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who failed to provide adequate protection of the Kharkiv region during the enemy offensive in May 2024. According to the case, the defendant is a brigadier general who served as the commander of the Kharkiv operational and tactical group, it is Yurii Halushkin. Lieutenant General Artur Horbenko, who was the commander of the 125th TDF (Territorial Defence Forces) Brigade. The colonel who used to lead the 415th battalion of this formation is Illia Lapin. Here I would like to point out a mistake in the SSU report. The 415th Rifle Battalion did not belong to the 125th TDF Brigade. It was the reporters who made a mistake. The investigation found that the officials did not prepare the defense of the border areas of the Kharkiv region and lost control of the battle during the repeated offensive of the ruscists on the regional center. This refers to the offensive in 2024. Among other things, the defendants violated the requirements of military regulations in the preparation of defensive lines in the area of responsibility of military formations and units of the OTG. In addition, during the battle, the officials did not use the entire arsenal of possible measures to repel and stop the aggressor's offensive. This led to the seizure of part of the territory of the Eastern region of Ukraine, where fierce fighting is currently underway. Specialized examinations initiated by law enforcement confirmed the facts of the criminal activity of the suspects. Based on the evidence collected, they were detained and will be served a notice of suspicion in connection with the crimes committed under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Part 4 of Article 425. Negligent attitude to military service committed under martial law. Article 429. Organization of arbitrary abandonment of battlefield. The issue of choosing a measure of restraint is currently being decided. The defendants face up to 10 years in prison. The investigation is ongoing to bring all perpetrators to justice."
I want to say that this case is very important for us. I would like to remind you that Ukraine does not officially have procedures for after-action analysis of combat operations, which are adopted in all NATO countries without exception and are contained in all NATO charters. This is the After Action Review procedure, i.e., after action analysis. We do not have such internal investigations. All this talk about NATO is just talk that Ukrainian generals, the Ministry of Defense, and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief like to tell the people, but they do nothing to implement these NATO standards. That is why the After Action Review does not work for us. The only procedure to find out what happened during the fighting, who is responsible, is actually a criminal case. Because the official investigation that is conducted is not complete and does not provide for a full investigation of all the circumstances of the battle, and there are significant restrictions on establishing the results of what happened, and official investigations are also appointed under certain circumstances. We just don't have an analysis of the fighting. Therefore, a criminal case is the only way to establish what happened. Now let's see what is being charged, what is written in this SSU report, and whether these charges of suspicion actually correspond to the actual state of affairs, whether these people are really guilty, and who should be fully responsible for what happened.
So, first, let's look at the accusations. With regard to the situation with the OTG Kharkiv and the Russian Federation's offensive, the events that began on May 10, 2024, the attack on Kharkiv. Our sources in the State Bureau of Investigation allowed us to obtain information on what the investigation has found in this criminal case, what the charges are based on. Therefore, in order for us to fully assess these accusations by the SSU and the SBI, let's look at the facts of what forces and means were allocated by the country's leadership to defend the Kharkiv region.
First, I would like to state that according to all the case materials, the attack on Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region was not sudden. The country's leadership received information that the Russians would launch an attack on Kharkiv at the end of March 2024. We had at least a month and a half of time to prepare for the invasion planned by the Russians. In other words, Ukrainian intelligence and our partners' intelligence provided comprehensive information, allowing the country's leadership to prepare accordingly.
How did the country's leadership react to what happened?
Let's look at the facts. First of all, in early April, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, appointed Yuri Halushkin as the new commander of the Kharkiv operational and tactical group. What is the track record of this commander, who has been tasked with repelling the Russian offensive in such a key and important area? So, in 2013, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Halushkin was appointed as deputy commander of the High-Mobility Airborne Forces. By January 2015, Halushkin was acting commander of the High-Mobility Airborne Forces. In 2016, he was simply the deputy commander of the Airborne Forces. For several years, he was the deputy commander for airborne training. In 2019, Halushkin was appointed Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. In 2020, he was appointed Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. In January 2022, Halushkin was appointed commander of the Territorial Defence Forces. He served in this capacity for less than five months. In May 2022, he was appointed as deputy head of the main department of the Military Law Enforcement Service. As soon as the country's leadership learned that there would be an attack on Kharkiv, Halushkin was appointed commander of the Operational Tactical Group "Kharkiv."
What would I like to draw attention to? With all due respect, I have heard a lot of very favorable and positive feedback from military volunteers about Yurii Halushkin, as a person I do not know personally. I just drew attention to the career of a commander, a commanding general who is put in charge after the announcement of a Russian offensive in such an important area. I would like to say that during the 10 years of war, Yurii Halushkin was exclusively in administrative and command positions. That is, until April 2024, he did not directly command a group of troops, a brigade, i.e. a military unit, a formation, a troops formation, a force grouping, a tactical troop group, an operational and tactical group. In other words, a person who has no experience in commanding troops, especially in modern warfare, and does not directly lead troops, and who has been working in the military law enforcement service for two years before that, is appointed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, to a key area as the commander of the OTG. This is very striking.
What is this strange principle of personnel appointments? Why, on what basis, is a person with no experience appointed to such a position? Does this correspond to the situation? In my opinion, it does not correspond at all. What do we see next? Halushkin is appointed, and he is given command of the 125th Separate Territorial Defence Brigade in the direction of the enemy's main attack. The commander of this brigade is Artur Horbenko.
In 2024, Artur Horbenko turned 60 years old. What kind of experience did Artur Horbenko have? Well, friends, from 2008-2014, Horbenko was the head of the Western Regional Directorate, but he served in the State Border Guard Service (SBGS). Yes, he used to serve in the Armed Forces, but that was a long time ago. And he was actually a border guard at the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO). He received a combatant's certificate, as Wikipedia says, that he commanded units of the SBGS in the ATO zone from June-September 2014. That is less than four months. In other words, for four months in 2014, Artur Horbenko was in charge of the SBGS units that were not directly engaged in combat operations at the frontline of the anti-terrorist operation. It is written in Wikipedia that he was in charge of the withdrawal from the encirclement of a certain unit. Without any specifics, we understand that the border guards of the Western Regional Directorate did not conduct such large-scale active combat operations as the general military units. At that time, there were no border guard brigades. Therefore, Artur Horbenko did not gain any experience in general combat during the ATO. It was in 2014. At that time, Artur Horbenko was 50 years old. He retired at the age of 50. He did not continue his service in the ATO. In September 2014, he left his post and retired. That is, he did not fight, he had no new experience. And what do we see? A paradox. In March 2022, Artur Horbenko was appointed, despite his complete lack of experience, as the commander of the 125th Separate Territorial Defence Brigade. With all due respect, I do not exclude that Artur Horbenko is a good man. So is Yurii Halushkin. Maybe even a great person. I don't know these people. But look how absurd this is. The Russians are advancing, everyone knows about it, and they put a commander in charge of a force grouping who has never commanded any force grouping. And a brigade commander who has no experience of commanding a brigade.
You might think that the 125th Brigade was engaged in combat operations as part of a brigade. In fact, from the very beginning of the war, the brigade was not used as a formation with its own area of responsibility at the front but was used by individual battalions. There were four battalions in the brigade, and at the time of the Russian invasion, two battalions of the brigade were never used as a single formation, and individual battalions of the brigade were reassigned to different units and formations. As of May 2024, two of the brigade's four battalions were in other areas. That's why Artur Horbenko was assigned two more battalions to his two battalions so that he had four. One battalion from another TDF (Territorial Defence Forces) Brigade, and another battalion, the 415th Rifle Battalion, was actually withdrew to the area for rehabilitation. That is, the 415th battalion was in the fighting near Bakhmut, suffered very serious losses there, and when it was withdrawn, a significant number of soldiers from the 415th were transferred to other military units, and there was a large shortage of troops in these battalions stationed at the border. Horbenko himself had not been in charge of the brigade's combat operations in the combat zone until that moment, on May 10. That is, the appointment of Horbenko in March 2022 to the brigade is at least strange. There is simply no explanation for Horbenko's appointment to lead the defense in the direction of the main attack. It's as if it was done on purpose.
Now let's see what kind of forces, what the examination found
I would like to say that according to the examination, which is available in the criminal case, our sources allowed us to get acquainted with it, the composition of the forces with which Horbenko was supposed to stop the Russian offensive was established. So, on the front line of the 125th Brigade, the front line was defined as approximately 45 kilometers. For these 45 kilometers, Horbenko had about 800 infantrymen. For 45 kilometers, there are forests, plantations, very difficult terrain in some areas. 800 infantrymen. This is a TDF brigade, and it has no heavy weapons. But it was assigned very powerful and, unfortunately, in quotation marks, forces. As many as two tanks for 45 kilometers of frontline and three self-propelled artillery systems. Three. For 45 kilometers of the front. Two multiple-launch rocket systems, which, according to the expert opinion, had as many as 80 rockets. They could fire one salvo each.
What does this mean? The enemy had an absolute superiority in strength.
Our defence line was such a thin chain of separate positions and posts that were not even visually connected. I'm not talking about firepower. There were no tactical reserves at all. There was an acute shortage of people. And the enemy could actually break through this thin line without any problems in any area. In any area. That is, the ratio of strength to means was absolutely unfavorable.
And what were the forces in the OTG Kharkiv?
The 125th TDF Brigade, which consisted of four incomplete battalions, was in the Kharkiv OTG. It held the first line. In the second line, the 125th Brigade was reinforced by units of the Special Operations Forces and the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. We have to understand that it was 200-300 fighters. These were not some regiments or detachments with a lot of equipment. These were separate groups of special forces. And in the second echelon behind the 125th Brigade, the 42nd Mechanized Brigade was stationed. The 42nd Mechanized Brigade was also withdrawn for rehabilitation from near Bakhmut after very heavy fighting and significant losses. It didn't have time to receive replenishment and restore its combat capability. And it was in the second echelon. That is, it did not hold the front together with the 125th, but it was behind the 125th. That is, the grouping, to put it mildly, had absolutely insufficient forces and means to hold the Russian offensive in any part of the front. Neither forces nor means. It was just an imitation of defense.
You might think that this has only just come to light. And no one was controlling or monitoring it. In fact, let's see who was controlling it.
So, we received a message that the Russians were advancing. In early April, a new commander of the OTG "Kharkiv", Yurii Halushkin, is appointed. And on April 9, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself visited the readiness of the Kharkiv OTG to repel the offensive and came to the area. And who is there with Volodymyr Zelenskyy? The head of the Kharkiv Military-Civilian Administration, of course, Syniehubov, and the commander of the Khortytsia OSGT, General Sodol, are there with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the defense facilities and recognized and checked them, and obviously he was satisfied with everything. He was also satisfied with the reports of the military leadership. After that, it was very loudly publicized in the media. There were stories about the president being there, inspecting the facilities, very powerful. And, apparently, most people thought that these structures were somewhere on the border, and this is our real line of defense, there are troops there.
In fact, the president visited positions that our troops did not take up at all. As it turned out, all these positions presented by the head of the Military-Civil Administration, Synehubov, were dug in completely unfavorable positions. Our troops did not take up them, and do not take up them even now, after the start of the Russian offensive, and after the fighting has already begun. Because they were dug not to cover the borders of Kharkiv, not to cover the village of Lyptsi. They were right in Lyptsi and beyond Lyptsi, and that's why our troops did not take up them, because if the enemy had been allowed to enter Lyptsi, Kharkiv would have been under fire from Russian artillery. Of course, no one allowed this to happen, and our soldiers did not allow the Russians to establish such a line for the accumulation of Russian troops. But all these fortifications that I inspected, which Synehubov built for an unknown number of billions, were not taken up, they were not used.
And the whole battle took place, the fighting took place in the positions and trenches that Ukrainian soldiers had dug by their own forces. In 2022-2023, the units of the 127th Territorial Defence Brigade held these lines, and then they were replaced by the 125th Territorial Defence Brigade. These were field fortifications dug by the soldiers themselves.
On May 7, on the eve of the Russian offensive, the command post of the OTG "Kharkiv" and the command post of the 125th TDF Brigade were personally visited by the commander of the OSGT "Khortytsia", General Sodol. He checked the readiness of the troops to repel the Russian offensive, which was not a secret, and everyone understood that it would happen. We prepared according to reports and gave reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, that everything would be fine. Who in the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander in Chief, made such reports that we were ready? The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, made such reports to the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander in Chief. That is, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspected the preparation of troops to repel the Russian offensive. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, appointed the commander of the OTG to repel the Russian offensive, which is his responsibility and appointed a brigade to deter the first Russian attack along the border. By the way, I would like to say that General Horbenko repeatedly said, according to people who talked to him at the command post, that he had known Oleksandr Syrskyi when he was studying at the school during the Soviet Union. Perhaps this prompted Syrskyi to deploy Horbenko's brigade to such an important area. Without any experience. I don't know what the motives were. There is nothing about this in the SSU and SBI reports.
For some reason, there is no mention of what the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Zelenskyy checked. For some reason, it does not mention that the head of the Military-Civilian Administration, Syniehubov, prepared these defensive positions, which were not eventually occupied by troops. For some reason, it does not mention that Oleksandr Syrskyi and the commander of the Khortytsia OSGT Sodol personally checked the readiness to repel the attack, sent units there, amassed forces and means that were absolutely insufficient to repel the attack. For some reason, we do not see all this in this report. There are only a few perpetrators, but I want to inform you that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of the Military-Civilian Administration, Syniehubov, and General Sodol, the commander of the OSGT, should also be defendants in the case.
I want to help the investigation in this case, because, as stated in the report, it is necessary to identify other defendants who may be involved in the offenses. It seems to me that those defendants who appointed people who had no experience, who appointed people who built, spent state funds, absolutely not for targeted expenditures, those people who did not allocate sufficient forces and means, who controlled and were responsible for this area, it is precisely within the area of responsibility of the Khortytsia OSGT, within the area of responsibility, they should also be involved in this case. Therefore, I hope that after such a decisive step of detaining several defendants, the investigation will not stop, but, of course, will prepare similar investigative and procedural actions against other defendants who controlled everything, saw everything, appointed, determined and allowed the same shameful consequences.
And the consequences are that after the first Russian attack on May 10, the country's leadership assessed the situation, an emergency meeting of the military leadership was held together with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, an assessment was made that both Horbenko and Halushkin had lost control of the troops, and on May 10, Syrskyi ordered the emergency appointment of Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General Mykhailo Drapatyi, as the new commander of the OTG "Kharkiv". Mykhailo Drapatyi was transferred there, units of the 92nd Assault Brigade and subdivisions were redeployed, and the 13th National Guard Brigade "Charter" was sent in full force, which was just in the direction of the main Russian attack, covering the village of Lyptsi, which they had to reach in order to take fire control of the outskirts of Kharkiv.
And after that, that is, after the Russian offensive, combat-ready units began to be concentrated in this area, which had combat capability, provided a certain density of forces, equipment, people, soldiers, command and control, and intelligence, and the situation stabilized.
Therefore, I want to say that it is certainly impossible to completely absolve these leaders, General Halushkin, General Horbenko, and Colonel Lapin of responsibility. The investigation must determine the degree of responsibility of each of them. Because something really happened that was not planned. The enemy quickly, literally in two days, advanced far ahead and reached the outskirts of the village of Lyptsi on the evening of May 12. And there, on absolutely unprepared forest plantations, the fighters of the Charter Brigade were forced to drive the enemy out in encounter battles together with the units of the SOF and the DIU. This happened and it led to significant losses of our soldiers in these encounter battles, who in fact could, if there had been adequate defense planning, if there had been adequate command, adequate forces and means, have met the enemy at prepared borders, defeated his strike groups, inflicted heavy losses and not suffered the losses we did.
A significant number of our soldiers were killed in these battles. In particular, a soldier of the 415th Rifle Battalion, a well-known Ukrainian nationalist, Mykhailo Kokhanivskyi, was killed in these battles.
I would like to say that in the case of the 415th battalion and Horbenko, what were the main materials in the criminal case against Horbenko and the 125th brigade? There is information in the case file, I cannot verify it at the moment, that Horbenko was not at the command post during the Russian offensive, but was in another place, far from the combat zone. This information needs to be verified, and I hope that in the near future we will learn the position of the defense in court. This story is quite serious and we really need to find out where the brigade commander was actually during the offensive. If this is confirmed, this is a serious accusation and it must be given a proper assessment.
Second. Illia Lapin, the commander of the 415th battalion, was charged, and the following words appear here: officials did not prepare the defence of the border areas of the Kharkiv region. I would like to say that the defence of the border areas was not only the responsibility of the military, it was also the responsibility of the Civil-Military Administration. Next. The defendants violated the requirements of military regulations in the preparation of defensive lines. I think that this accusation, that is, the first accusation that they did not prepare the defence, can only be partially accepted, because they were partially responsible and could have done something, and 100% can always do more. But it is worth noting that the investigation found that the defendants had only about a thousand anti-personnel mines to plant over the entire 45 kilometres. There was not enough forces and means, just not enough, to do dense mining. Therefore, there were certain problems with the engineering equipment of these borders that were not resolved at any level.
Further, part of the charges can indeed be served here, but part of the responsibility lies with other officials, whom I have already mentioned. Loss of control of the battle. I think that this could have happened, because there was indeed a loss of contact with many units during the enemy's offensive, because the enemy was advancing with superior forces and the defense line, of course, could not withstand such pressure in many places. Although we repelled an attack at some positions where there was an organized battle, there were experienced fighters.
And about violations of the statutes.
I think there is a comma here again. We should ask Sodol and Syrskyi why they deployed such a small amount of forces and means, despite all the regulations, in the direction of the enemy's main attack. So there is someone else to answer to.
Officials did not use the entire arsenal of possible measures. Maybe they will. We need to see what exactly will be put forward.
Regarding the charge under Art. 429. Organising the arbitrary abandonment of battlefield
In fact, the criminal case file contains information about very minor losses of various units. For example, on the first day of the Russian offensive, the border guard unit attached to the 125th Brigade, as a result of the withdrawal of all other units from their positions, on the right and left of the 125th Brigade, unfortunately, one of the border guard units was almost completely killed. 17 soldiers and 17 border guards of the State Border Guard Service were killed. They died in battle and did not withdraw. And at the same time, the units of the 125th TDF Brigade on the first day of the Russian offensive, according to the investigation, two servicemen killed in action out of all the other units of the brigade. Again, these are the materials provided by my sources, and this is why there are suspicions under Article 429 that a disorganized withdrawal occurred, with units fleeing and opening the way for the enemy without offering the resistance, the strong resistance, they could have provided. This explains the discrepancy in losses. That is, a border guard unit at one position suffered significantly higher losses than the entire brigade. Well, that’s the information. Again, the text of the suspicion will be announced, and we will hear the arguments as to why this might have happened.
I want to say that there were both subjective and objective reasons for this. Let me remind you once again. The troops were spread across separate positions. The enemy attempted to suppress tactical communications. The troops had no support from heavy equipment or artillery. There was no support from drones. In general, the number of drones and drone operators in the 125th Brigade was insignificant. Therefore, during the Russian offensive, it was extremely difficult for them to hold these isolated positions without fire support. If all of them had been highly trained, experienced fighters, perhaps they could have resisted with just small arms. But, my friends, that wasn’t the case. I personally met with soldiers from the 415th Battalion in Lyptsi. I was impressed by these people—they were brave. Some of them were 57-58 years old, and many of them were over 50. In fact, I think the majority were. To expect these people... Well, considering their level of training... I don’t think they were prepared for maneuver warfare. I didn’t get the impression that they were ready for maneuver combat against Russian assault units. That said, it's important to note that the 415th Battalion, despite losing command and control, still suffered significant casualties in the following days. Once again, I want to emphasize that soldiers died defending our positions there—they fought to the last on some of these positions, covering the village of Hlyboke and the village of Lyptsi. Therefore, this situation needs to be understood as a whole.
I consider this case to be very important, significant, because now we will be able to hear from the commanders, who will now have to publicly defend themselves, justify themselves, assess all the facts that the investigation has now collected, which are known to the public, and comment on everything I have just told you.
Detention of Dmytro Riumshyn.
The second report of the Security Service of Ukraine: SSU and SBI detain ex-commander of the 155th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who allowed his subordinates to desert. The SSU and the SBI, with the assistance of the Minister of Defense and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, detained a former commander of the 155th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the investigation, while holding the position of commander, he did not inform law enforcement agencies about a significant number of facts of arbitrary abandonment of the place of service by personnel, which took place during the formation training on the territory of the European Union, as well as the performance of combat missions on the Eastern Front. Currently, law enforcement officers are checking information on the existence of corruption schemes in the brigade during the selection of soldiers for training abroad. They are also checking information about possible schemes where soldiers could evade their duties in exchange for bribes. The commander of the 155th Brigade is suspected. Part 4, Article 426 of the Criminal Code. Inaction of military authorities committed under martial law. The sanction of the article is up to 10 years in prison.
The message is quite concise, it hints at corruption, but there is only one article - the inaction of the military authorities. It is hard for me to believe that it was possible not to report the facts of AWOL. After all, Riumshyn was not alone in France. The entire brigade headquarters, battalion commanders, all the necessary personnel, and counterintelligence officers were there. The entire brigade headquarters and the special representative of the OC "West", who formed and was responsible for the formation of the 155th Brigade. It was the OC (Operational Command) "West" and the Ground Forces Command that were responsible for manning the 155th Brigade. So, I don't understand how it was possible to conceal the fact that someone was going AWOL and actually deserted on the territory of France, and I hope we will see this in court. But now the charges against Riumshyn have been specified. That is, there is a single charge that Riumshin did not report about AWOL. That is, please note, not for manning the military unit with people who decided to flee, not for the fact that the military unit was not given time to organize and prepare, not for the fact that on the eve of the 155th Brigade's departure for France, almost all of the newly trained command staff was taken away and hastily replaced with newly mobilized personnel, not because the 155th Brigade had no commanders with any experience at all, there were literally a few, maybe two, командир батальонаs with combat experience. That is, no one is charging Riumshyn with anything for this. Although, in fact, this is the reason for the AWOL and desertion. A crowd in uniform that is not trained, not organized as a military unit, has neither cohesion nor training. There is no collective morale, no mutual support, many people do not know each other at all, and they do not know their commanders. People who have just been mobilized, most of them, are sent into France.
And out of the 1,900 people who were sent to France by the 155th Brigade, less than 100 deserted, up to 100. The investigation will show the final list. Who is to blame for this?
It turns out that it was not the fault of the commander of OC "West" Shvydiuk, who was responsible for manning the unit. It was not the Ground Forces Command, which controlled all this and agreed that the brigade they were sending to France, almost all of it, consisted of people from the street. Almost 99.9% of the people had no combat experience. A few had served and had combat experience. Most of them were people who had just been recruited from the streets. Out of 1900, 100 fled, the rest stayed. Although they were just recruited on the street, without selection, without training, without organization. What do you want in general?
I'm just surprised that in this message from the SSU and the SBI, which I quoted, it says "pre-trial investigation is underway to establish all the circumstances of the crime and other persons who may be involved in the offenses." But, excuse me, what is there to establish? Why didn't you detain the leaders who were responsible for recruiting the brigade, sending it abroad, and training it? Well, there are specific people. It wasn't Riumshyn who walked the streets grabbing people by the hand and saying, "You're coming to my brigade." It was certain territorial recruiting centers that sent these people. OC "West" agreed and said, "Yes, combat order, such-and-such, 155th". It was the Ground Forces Command and the Western Military Command that approved the lists of people who were just taken from the streets and sent as a brigade to France. This was an approved decision. It was not Riumshin who decided that he would gather with these people whenever he wanted and go to France. He was given these people, and he took them to France with whomever he was given. There are specific people who approved all this. Who approved it? Look at the signatures.
OC "West", the command - General Shvydiuk, the command of the Ground Forces - General Pavliuk, the General Staff - General Barhylevych, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - Oleksandr Syrskyi. For some reason, there is no information about these people. For some reason, the investigation did not check how this is happening. Although, in fact, the materials of the internal investigation contain this information.
I will talk about the internal investigation into the 155th Brigade and what is currently happening with the brigade a little later. Because the situation in the brigade is also difficult right now. For example, the tank and combat vehicle crews trained in France are now being sent to the trenches as infantry. Electronic warfare specialists are being sent to the infantry, everyone is being sent to the infantry. In other words, some people were sent and trained for specific tasks, but then they were told it was all for nothing—today, you're going to sit and go into the infantry. The planning, deployment, and troop training is a complete mess. And now all of this is being blamed on specific individuals.
Conclusions
First of all, I am deeply disappointed that the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, is completely distancing himself from responsibility for the events taking place. It’s honestly shameful to read that Syrskyi appoints the OTG Kharkiv command, assigns the 195th Brigade, and sends the 155th Brigade to France, yet he takes no responsibility. After all, all these offences were committed with Syrskyi's assistance. For some reason, he is listed here as someone assisting in the investigation. Yes, he assisted twice. First, Syrskyi enabled these people to commit the offences in the positions to which he appointed them. And now, he’s helping to lay all the responsibility on these individuals while removing himself from the equation. This is just an incredible level of cynicism.
I think that the detention of these suspects is due to the fact that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to justify himself a lot to our French colleagues, to justify himself to our partners. First and foremost, in France, President Macron agreed to train a brigade, and France announced that almost a billion euros from the French budget would be allocated for its armament, equipment, and training. However, it turned out that Ukraine could not send a contingent that wouldn’t desert or could carry out their duties without breaking the law. To clarify, the desertion cases were few. Most of the personnel completed their training, returned to Ukraine, and entered combat—almost all of them. A small part deserted. Yet, based on this small group, the entire brigade has been judged negatively. The conclusion has been drawn that everyone is at fault. Of 1,900 people, 100 deserted. 1,800 are fighting, going into battle, conducting themselves honorably, and prepared diligently. However, because of these 100, it has been decided that the commander is responsible, guilty, and was hiding something. This is absurd. How could anyone hide such a thing? And why would they?
Why would a brigade commander who did not man this brigade hide the fact that someone is deserting? He has reports on the personnel, which are submitted to him by company officers and battalion commanders, and all the controlling bodies see these reports. How can he hide something himself? It's just strange. The same goes for Horbenko and Halushkin. Well, obviously, they were not in charge there alone. Obviously, there were mistakes and inadequacies in their actions regarding the management of the troops. But the forces and means they had did not provide the ability to fulfill the task. And they had no experience at all.
Well, who is to blame for this in the first place? That they have no experience, and they were appointed to perform such a task? Well, there are people who came there, supervised, watched, and appointed them. Where are they? That's why I think it's such a loud show to show that these cases in Kharkiv, in the 155th Brigade, instead of analysing why and how it happened, how to prevent it in the future, the country's leadership is making such a loud show to show that we have sorted it out, the guilty have been punished. I think we will hear a lot of interesting testimony at the trial. We will be covering them from all of these defendants who have now been detained. We will hear a lot of things. And this is important because this case should be continued in the future. And all the detainees, all the defendants, should be there. Not only those whose names were shyly written there by the investigators but all those I mentioned. Starting, of course, with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, who controlled and personally inspected all this. He was informed of all this, and he liked it. Well, of course, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has to be responsible, because his signatures are everywhere. I'm just surprised that the investigators didn't notice the leaders. Well, it's obvious that this is a political hit job. I think that the situation will be such that now, by their manual decision, all these detainees will be kept under control for some time. And then somehow they will be released under house arrest, later, when the resonance dies down.
I personally believe that such cases are a major problem for the individuals involved, bringing lifelong shame, from which it will be extremely difficult to fully clear their names. However, we don’t have an After Action Review procedure, we don`t conduct professional analyses of situations. Perhaps these two criminal cases will be the only way to draw public attention to the chaos and disorder in our management of military operations. How is all this done without responsible manning, organization of troops, use, training, and planning of combat operations? Both society and the military need to be aware of these issues. That’s why I hope that the trials will be open to the public and that people will be able to access the case files. If not, we will find the information and report on what happened in these cases, so that we understand what is going on in the defense sector, and to prevent shameful situations like what happened in Kharkiv—failures in military management and loss of control—from occurring again.
The cost of these failures—appointing inexperienced commanders to crucial positions, not deploying enough forces and equipment, not preparing defensive lines—has been significant losses for our troops. Many, many dozens, and now hundreds of casualties. Indeed, all those involved must be held accountable. I also hope that, over time, more individuals will be added to this criminal case. Everyone responsible must be brought to justice, and the higher the rank, the greater the responsibility and the longer the likely sentence. We hope for an objective trial and the release of information.
Answers to questions
Do you think this will have a positive impact on the course of the war or not?
I believe that the issue of the responsibility of commanders, commanders of all levels, which is raised and objectively assessed, is an important matter in war. The main thing is that it should be objective, that it should not be a political hit job and the appointment of the guilty.
Are there any detainees for faulty mines?
No, there are not. There are no detainees there, because Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself, together with his friend and partner Kamyshyn, the former Minister of Strategic Industry, and the current Minister Herman Smetanin, pushed through this decision. And I will tell you in the near future that in fact there are no documents that would determine that these enterprises, the Ministry of Defence, have grounds and that there should be an inspection of the real ability of a state-owned enterprise to produce so many mines that turned out to be faulty because in fact there were no powders, components, high-quality fuzes, or technologies for pouring explosives into the body. That's why the quality was so low when production was scaled up. This is the subject of a separate investigation.
Is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief suspected of unsuccessful preparations for the ruscists offensive on February 24, 2022?
Of course not. There is also a case there. There is a case about unsuccessful preparations in general, about the problems that arose in connection with the attack of the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022. There is a large case, which is also being actively investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation, regarding the capture and surrender of the South. I want to remind you that in a week, the enemy seized the land bridge from Crimea to Russia. Huge territories with a huge number of people, equipment, several large cities, dozens of villages were surrendered without a fight. Everything was surrendered with almost minimal resistance, and often without a fight at all. And now, of course, they also want to appoint those responsible for this. At the moment, there is a criminal case, among the defendants in it are officials who were there, and it is likely that on the third anniversary of the invasion there will be more detentions, and some military leaders will be served with suspicions. We will also monitor this case and give it a proper assessment. Of course, the SBI investigators are not questioning Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was actually in charge of all this. This is also one of the paradoxes.
What about Bakanov? When will he be arrested?
Oh, come on. He’s a friend, a business partner of the president. Bakanov, the head of the SSU, who, along with Zelenskyy, appointed the leadership of the SSU—traitors, FSB agents. He’s not under suspicion; he’s doing just fine. He lives in Kyiv, without any issues, and takes time to relax. It’s not like he has to fight, right? All he did was appoint FSB agents, organize the transfer of secret information to them, but no one ever asked him to defend the country. He’s just the former director of Kvartal. There’s no mention of him in the criminal case files.
Who should create the structures that will investigate all such cases? Why is the military prosecutor's office not working, and how can we make it work?
Yes, we don't have military justice, and law enforcement agencies are the ones responsible for investigating all of this. We do have them, but they’re simply carrying out political-hit jobs. Even in high-profile cases, where society demands results, the authorities just look around and ask, "Who should we blame? You, you, and you." They pick a few people, and then the SBI and SSU cobble together criminal cases. That’s what we’re seeing—complete disregard for documents. I have the internal investigation materials regarding the 155th Brigade. There are also detailed explanations concerning the 125th Brigade, which we’ll cover in a separate broadcast. I believe such matters are important for society. Any information or analysis related to what’s happening on the front, especially when it involves the loss of life, needs to be thoroughly evaluated—criminal proceedings included. So, in general, this is the right path for Ukraine. But in my view, there must be an objective investigation.
Frankly, I don’t see any grounds to detain any of these defendants. They aren’t hiding. These Ukrainian servicemen aren’t running away because they respect their duty. Personally, I wouldn’t have detained them. But yes, there were serious problems. There was desertion in France. Our defence near Kharkiv did fail. There are indeed deserters in France, and there are a significant number of our soldiers—Ukrainian citizens—who were killed near Kharkiv. Significant territorial losses occurred. So there needs to be a response, and likely in the form of court rulings and sentences for the officials responsible. I am concerned that there is no pressure on the defendants in the case. No scapegoats were appointed. And that all the officials who made the decisions are held accountable. They all have to give explanations to the investigators.
Should Zelenskyy also be questioned by investigators about Kharkiv? How can anyone believe all this? He was there. He monitored the situation and received reports. How is it possible that he doesn’t give any explanations? Shouldn’t he? And where is Syrskyi? What is he doing? Why is Oleksandr Syrskyi hiding behind his subordinates? What kind of cowardice is this? Is he a general, or just a coward who hides and shifts responsibility onto others? Is this what comradeship looks like? Brotherhood? Or is it just cowardice and the desire to dump his share of the responsibility onto his subordinates? It’s honestly shameful that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine couldn’t even find the words to comment on the fact that four of his subordinate officers and generals were detained. It’s disgraceful. Oleksandr Syrskyi is acting like someone for whom honour means nothing, where the only thing that matters is his position. He hides under his chair, cowardly watching, hoping not to be implicated. It’s just disrespectful, Oleksandr Stanislavovych. I don’t know what you were taught at military school or in your service. In my view, when a leader avoids responsibility for their subordinates and is too afraid to even speak when they’re detained, it’s an unworthy and immoral act. I hope the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will step up and make a statement. These are significant events. We shouldn’t have to be ashamed of our leadership. I can’t imagine how Oleksandr Syrskyi can issue orders when he sets a precedent like this—sitting quietly, while others are detained, and then carrying on as if nothing happened. Who will now follow your orders, knowing you don’t stand up for your subordinates when they do? It’s simply disgraceful.
I appeal to Oleksandr Syrskyi not to disgrace the army and to clearly express his position and give his assessment. What is your responsibility for all these events? Because it seems like you’ve had nothing to do with managing the war—neither with the OTG, Kharkiv, nor the 155th Brigade. But we all know this isn’t true. We understand what’s really going on. Once again, I have to point out that, as always, our Defence Minister Rustem Umierov is completely mere circumstance. The Ministry of Defence is silent about the ongoing events; it’s as if it doesn’t exist. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief, as always, is also silent, as if he doesn’t exist either. And this is normal, right? Two generals have been detained, two colonels as well. But no one is interested, no one comments. It seems the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation are now the only ones running the army.
Dear friends, any changes in our democratic society, any actions that provide an assessment of real events and hold people accountable, are critical steps forward for us. It’s important for us to understand who we are, what kind of state and army we have, and how we can achieve victory. We need to be more flexible, we need to learn, analyse, and draw the right conclusions. So, we’ll continue to monitor this situation and keep you updated. Thank you to all the viewers and sponsors of Butusov Plus for your support. Thank you for being with me today. Glory to Ukraine!
