“The investigative service of the Ministry of Defense will immediately begin investigating allegations (…) concerning the situation within the 211th Pontoon Brigade of the Armed Forces Support Forces,” the minister announced on Facebook of Defense, Roustem Oumerov.
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.
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.
Syria conflict: Trump says Turkey carried out ‘unfriendly takeover’ of Syria
Donald Trump said Monday that Turkey had carried out “an unfriendly takeover” of Syria, after rebel groups – some supported by Ankara – overthrew the government of Bashar al-Assad.
“Turkey is very smart. He’s a smart guy, and he’s very tenacious,” the future US president said at a press conference, presumably in reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Bashar al-Assad assures that he did not flee in a “premeditated” manner after the fall of Damascus
“Turkey made an unfriendly takeover without many lives lost. I can say Assad was a butcher,” he added.
Since 2016, Turkey has exerted considerable influence over northwest Syria, maintaining relations with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda and considered terrorist by many Western countries. .
The Turkish government said it was “ready” on Sunday to provide military aid if the new Syrian government led by Islamist rebels requested it.
“We have to wait and see what the new administration will do. We think it is necessary to give them a chance,” said Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Güler.
Turkey’s priority in Syria is to fight Kurdish separatist fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), an objective supported by the new Syrian government, he said .
By extension, Ankara considers the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) to be a terrorist group, which places it in direct opposition to the American administration of Joe Biden. Washington considers this group “crucial” in preventing a resurgence of jihadists from the Islamic State group in Syria.
The FDS, supported by the United States, led the fight against IS in its last Syrian strongholds before its defeat in 2019. They are dominated by the YPG, considered by Ankara to be an offshoot of the banned PKK.
