Russia-Ukraine War
Russia-Ukraine War
Russia-Ukraine War
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Last year, two generals and a colonel blamed for the loss of territory in Ukraine to Russian forces last year, said the country’s security service.
By Maria Varenikova
Kyiv, Ukraine Reports
Faced with expanding public pressure to respond to considerations about the army’s leadership on the front lines, as Ukrainian forces lose the opposite ground to Russian attacks, Ukraine said it had had 3 former commanders it blamed for the loss of territory last spring.
Ukraine’s security service said last Monday that the three former commanders, two generals and a colonel, had been accused of failing to advance Russian forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine last year.
The security service, known as the S.B.U., did not name those detained, giving only their ranks and the units they commanded at the time.
The former commanders are accused of failing to build adequate fortifications or to properly equip defensive positions, along with other mistakes that “led to the seizure of part of the territory of the eastern region of Ukraine, where fierce fighting is currently ongoing,” the security service said in a statement.
The arrests come amid growing public pressure for action against commanders seen as incompetent or careless as desertions rise in the Ukrainian Army. Soldiers who leave their units without permission often cite disagreement with their commanders as their main reason for doing so.
The colonel was also guilty of 12 infantry of his battalion, leaving their positions, according to a press release. In addition, the commander of some other brigade, the 155th, arrested and accused of actions that led a giant number of members of his brigade absent without leave when the Ukrainian army is seriously short of people.
Ukraine has also been targeting corruption in the military amid widespread accounts of bribetaking by military officials — particularly medical commissioners who can issue draft exemptions.
Tuesday, the S. B. U. announced that the Army’s leading psychiatrist had been arrested, saying he had raised more than a million dollars since the giant full-scale invasion of Russia began, obtaining several houses and 4 BMWs.
The crimes for which the commanders have been accused can carry prison sentences of up to 10 years. The S.B.U. said it would seek to place those arrested in pretrial detention as a preventive measure.
Soldiers from the 125th brigade, which was involved in the defense of the Kharkiv region at the time, said that their former commander was one of those arrested, and reacted angrily.
“We were defending a huge swath of the border, we fought to the death in the first hours of the attack. We were short of people, ammunition and support but we fought, we fought under the leadership of our commander!” they wrote on the brigade’s Facebook page.
Natalia Novosolova contributed to the reporting.
Maria Varenikova covers Ukraine and her with Russia. Learn more about Maria Varenikova
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