According to revelations published Monday by the media Ukrainska Pravda, widely followed in Ukraine, a section commander of the 211th brigade, Vladyslav Pastoukh, mistreated his subordinates, while benefiting from the protection of his father, head of the said brigade.
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According to the newspaper, Mr. Pastoukh allegedly beat a soldier and forced soldiers to give him money by threatening to send them to the front line. The article includes a photograph showing the alleged commander posing in front of a soldier, his face blurred, attached to a wooden cross.
According to this respected media outlet, those who reported the abuse were sent to serve in the infantry, known for having the highest casualty rates on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian human rights commissioner, Dmytro Loubinets, denounced on Telegram a “shameful phenomenon” and assured that he had contacted the general staff and the army so that they could carry out an “internal investigation with a view to a later response”.
The Ukrainian General Staff defended itself on Facebook by claiming to have opened an internal investigation into these facts in September 2024, initiated criminal proceedings and suspended the offending commander for the duration of the inspection.
“We will examine the reasons why the military law enforcement service took so long to investigate these shameful cases,” Rustem Umerov promised.
The recruitment system for the army is considered unfair and corrupt by many Ukrainians, which pushed President Volodymyr Zelensky to dismiss all officials in charge of mobilization in 2023.
