Final month, 4 top-level army commanders in Ukraine had been arrested for alleged mismanagement of battlefield operations — within the first legal investigations of high army management because the begin of the full-scale invasion.
Three high-ranking officers concerned in what’s being known as “the generals’ case” — Yurii Halushkin, Artur Horbenko, and Illia Lapin — are accused of failing to defend Kharkiv Oblast throughout Russia’s renewed offensive within the space in Could 2024. Russian troops managed to get a number of kilometers past the border earlier than Ukrainian troops halted the advance.
In a separate case, Colonel Dmytro Riumshyn stands accused of failing to report and forestall desertions in his newly shaped a hundred and fifty fifth Brigade, in the end resulting in 56 troopers deserting whereas coaching in France, and tons of extra — in Ukraine.
Whereas some Ukrainians welcomed the information, some specialists and military commanders see it as a heavy-handed try and suppress potential army opposition to peace negotiations and harm the recognition of army management earlier than potential elections that could possibly be held if the battle involves an finish this 12 months.
“These investigations imply that the federal government is afraid of the army as a political drive,” Ukrainian political scientist Yevhen Mahda informed the Kyiv Unbiased.
Additionally they warn of the hurt prosecuting high-level commanders can convey to the army throughout wartime.
Ukrainian legislation on “fight immunity” handed in 2022 promised commanders freedom to make selections on the entrance with out authorized penalties for his or her failure. However the arrest of the 4 high officers exhibits vestiges of a damaged army justice system.
Investigation of Kharkiv Oblast protection
On Could 10, 2024, Russian forces crossed the Russian border into Kharkiv Oblast, positioned in Ukraine’s northeast, swiftly occupying some border villages.
The assault got here forty days after Brigadier Basic Yurii Halushkin was appointed the commander of the Kharkiv Operational Tactical Grouping, chargeable for defending the realm.
On the second day of the offensive, Halushkin was changed in his place by Main Basic Mykhailo Drapatyi. With reinforcements despatched in, Ukrainian forces stopped Russia's advance. Some border areas stay occupied to at the present time, and the combating continues as much as 8 kilometers into Ukrainian territory.
The preliminary success of the Russian offensive sparked outrage towards regional and army leaders for poor protection planning that led to each army losses and 1000’s of civilians displaced from their houses. The newly occupied territories had been already liberated as soon as from occupation in Ukraine’s 2022 counteroffensive within the space.
The State Bureau of Investigation(SBI) launched an investigation into the circumstances across the border’s breach in Could. The company detained Halushkin on Jan. 20 together with two different officers commanding troops in Kharkiv Oblast in the course of the offensive.
“Their negligent angle to army service allowed the Russian Federation troops to grab a part of the territory (of Kharkiv area),” the SBI’s assertion mentioned. “Additionally, the actions of the commanders led to the lack of personnel and weapons, and disrupted the protection of the state border of their space of duty.”
Halushkin was accused of assigning insufficient protection positions to the a hundred and twenty fifth Territorial Protection Brigade led by Lieutenant Basic Artur Horbenko, and failing to bolster and assist them with artillery and air drive.
The insufficient command allegedly led to some models of the a hundred and twenty fifth brigade deserting their positions, which allowed Russians to advance, in line with the SBI.
Horbenko was additionally accused of failing to correctly put together positions and equip his troops, in addition to set up fireplace assist and communication in the course of the battle. “(Horbenko) was unaware of the particular state of affairs on the battlefield,” the SBI mentioned.
Colonel Illia Lapin, a commander of the 415th Rifle Battalion of the twenty third Brigade tasked to defend the realm, was accused of insufficient battle administration and preparation of protection positions, in addition to permitting twelve servicemen to abandon positions.
The SBI claimed it obtained help from the Protection Ministry and the Armed Forces Command in arresting the suspects.
However Halushkin’s lawyer Velychko informed the Kyiv Unbiased that the army police discovered no violation of the army constitution in his consumer’s actions in Kharkiv Oblast throughout an earlier inside investigation.
Halushkin appealed to the Basic Employees for reinforcements earlier than the renewed Russian offensive, however “the reply was – you’ll be able to solely depend on what you have got,” Velychko mentioned.
“He believes that he had correctly used all of the forces and means he had (for repelling the assault),” Velychko added.
Halushkin mentioned in an announcement revealed by his lawyer that he’ll proceed defending his command selections in detention.
“If the Basic Employees of Ukraine doesn’t have sufficient brigades and weapons to adjust to the requirements (of the army constitution), it’s not the fault of the commanders,” Halushkin wrote.
Authorities’s present of drive
Though President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned in July that the talks on who’s guilty for Russian success in partially occupying Kharkiv Oblast must be held after the battle, he praised the arrests of high commanders on Jan. 20, saying that “no standing or previous achievements can override the rule of legislation.”
The courtroom set multi-million-hryvnia bails for the officers. An nameless donor settled the Hr 5 million (round $118,000) bail for Halushkin on the morning of Jan. 22, whereas former President Petro Poroshenko publicly provided to do the identical on Fb — in a submit he has since deleted.
Hours later, Halushkin was arrested as soon as once more with out bail simply as he was leaving the detention middle, drawing each criticism and reward amongst some army personnel and politicians.
“(The investigators) launched a brand new legal case towards him three hours earlier than his repeated detention,” Velychko informed the Kyiv Unbiased, including that the brand new case was registered lower than an hour after Poroshenko’s submit.
The SBI claimed it had found “new information” within the investigation and launched a brand new case beneath a special article, however Velychko maintains that investigators “merely copied seven volumes of supplies from the primary legal case.”
The cruel measures are a “short-sighted and harmful” tactic, utilized by the political management earlier than the potential upcoming wrestle for energy to “tame” the army, because it stays essentially the most trusted establishment in society in line with polls, political scientist Mahda mentioned.
If society accepts these legal circumstances towards commanders, the nation’s political management “can swing for the fences, for instance, (to prosecute former Commander-in-Chief) Zaluzhny,” he added, referring to Zaluzhny’s continued excessive reputation amongst Ukrainians.
The identical polls present a big lower in belief within the president and the federal government. Ukrainian authorities is perhaps utilizing “the generals’ circumstances” to shift the blame.
Riumshyn, former commander of the a hundred and fifty fifth mechanized brigade “Anna Kyivska,” was additionally arrested on Jan. 20. The systematic issues within the “French-trained brigade” had been reported by Ukrainian and international media, embarrassing the Ukrainian management, which lauded the a hundred and fifty fifth brigade as a flagship venture for brand spanking new NATO-trained and armed Ukrainian brigades.
Ukrainian journalist Yurii Butusov, whose intensive report on the failings within the brigade was cited in international media, blamed President Zelensky, Protection Minister Rustem Umerov, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and different members of the excessive army command for the numerous issues past Riumshyn’s obligations as brigade commander.
“There was numerous publicity on this state of affairs. Somebody needs to be the autumn man now,” Riumshyn informed journalists in courtroom, explaining why he was arrested.
Regardless of the publicity of each circumstances, pre-trial legal proceedings had been closed to the general public, and the case supplies of Halushkin’s case stay undisclosed, thought-about as army secrets and techniques, even to his protection, Velychko mentioned.
Undermining the military
Excessive army commanders and common troopers have since mentioned that the arrests are gravely detrimental to the battle effort, as they undermine commanders’ motivation, belief within the greater command, and willingness to behave shortly on the battlefield.
“It’s a 100% political case,” Anatolii Kozel, former commander of the 53rd brigade, informed the Kyiv Unbiased. “This doesn’t profit (the military).”
Lieutenant Basic Serhii Naiev, former commander of the Joint Protection Forces, criticized the arrests in his interview with a serious Ukrainian media Ukrainska Pravda on Feb. 10.
“It’s unacceptable that trials of army leaders are launched in the course of the battle,” he mentioned, including that even Russia doesn’t prosecute generals for his or her failures.
He additionally put the duty on political management for Ukraine’s stalled preparation for the Russian invasion in 2022, which led to the occupation of the southern a part of the nation, deaths of civilians, and important army losses.
The subsequent day after the publication, Ukrainian media reported that Naiev was appointed as a front-line commander of a small tactical group in Ukraine’s east — a transfer seen as retaliation for his interview.
Exploiting underdeveloped army justice
A brand new complete army justice system wasn’t developed in Ukraine after the nation gained independence, with the system inherited from the Soviet Union largely dismantled earlier than 2014.
After which Russia invaded within the east and annexed Crimea in 2014. The rising want for a brand new, reformed system was most seen within the case of Main Basic Viktor Nazarov.
In 2017, a civilian courtroom gave him a jail sentence for failing to forestall the downing of a transport plane with 49 Ukrainian servicemen by Russian mercenaries within the jap Luhansk Oblast in 2014.
The sentence was welcomed by the households of fallen troopers and criticized by then-President Petro Poroshenko for putting the blame on Ukraine’s army management for the incident.
In 2021, nevertheless, Nazarov was acquitted by the Supreme Courtroom, arguing that he would have had no manner of stopping the assault. The seven years of controversial proceedings laid naked the dearth of a transparent framework for tackling all these circumstances.
The newest circumstances final month are additionally not the primary legal proceedings with political undertones because the begin of President Zelensky’s presidency.
“My case and the case involving (Galushkin, Horbenko, and Lapin) are usually not parallels. That is one methodology,” Main Basic Dmytro Marchenko informed Ukrainska Pravda in a latest interview on his being a major topic of the so-called “armored vests case” in 2019.
Serving as a high Protection Ministry official chargeable for materials provide of the military since 2015, he was arrested in 2019, when the State Bureau of Investigation accused him and several other different officers of procuring 1000’s of low-quality armored vests at inflated costs.
Marchenko was held in a civilian detention middle for a month — a choice known as “stunning” by the Protection Ministry — and launched on a Hr 20 million ($480,000) bail, paid largely by former President Poroshenko’s household and common individuals’s donations.
Marchenko claimed that his case was politically motivated, geared toward damaging then-President Poroshenko. In 2020, a Kyiv courtroom suspended the prosecutor and investigator on the case on account of their “biased angle.”
The investigation of the “armored vests case” primarily froze armored vests procurement in Ukraine till weeks earlier than the full-scale Russian invasion. After it started, all of the disputed vests had been distributed to Ukrainian troopers, although the case remained open, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing Marchenko.
Marchenko commanded the protection of the southern metropolis of Mykolayiv in 2022, serving to to efficiently cease the Russian advance. On Nov. 8, 2024, he resigned from the army on account of well being issues.
“Such circumstances demoralize the army solely, and trigger uncertainty amongst all ranges of command — from platoon chief to the part commander,” Marchenko mentioned in an interview, referring to the continuing investigation towards the Ukrainian officers.
The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima