Anti-Corruption Center says Ukrainian investigators knew of alleged crimes in Skelia regiment since March
Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Center (ЦПК) has alleged that the State Bureau of Investigation (ДБР) may have known since at least March 2026 about alleged crimes in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" but failed to open pretrial investigations until after a Babel media investigation was published in June. According to ЦПК, the Office of the Military Ombudsman sent eight letters to the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General between March and June 2026 describing possible offenses including torture, physical violence and failure to provide medical aid resulting in death; in six of those cases the ДБР declined to open pretrial investigations, citing insufficient grounds.
Key points
- ЦПК alleges the ДБР may have known about alleged crimes in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" since at least March 2026.
- The Office of the Military Ombudsman sent eight letters to the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General between March and June 2026, according to ЦПК.
- The letters described possible offenses including failure to provide medical aid resulting in death, threats with firearms and combat grenades, unlawful detention, physical violence, and torture.
- In six of eight cases the ДБР declined to enter the information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations (ЄРДР), citing insufficient grounds, and forwarded materials to the Military Law Enforcement Service (ВСП).
- One complaint involved a soldier's sister reporting her brother had been beaten and later died in hospital after being denied medical aid; the ДБР investigator concluded there were insufficient grounds to register the case in the ЄРДР.
- Babel published its investigation into torture in the 425th regiment and 25 deaths of mobilized soldiers on 23 June 2026; on 24 June commander Lieutenant Colonel Yuriy Harkavyi was suspended from duty.
- On 25 June the 425th regiment confirmed 25 deaths of its recruits and the immediate suspension of its commander.
- On 2 September the 425th regiment was placed under the operational subordination of the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov."
Why it matters
The allegations point to a possible failure of Ukrainian law-enforcement bodies to act on documented complaints of torture and deaths of mobilized soldiers before the case entered the public sphere. The episode has already prompted criminal proceedings, the suspension of the regiment's commander and structural changes to the unit's command, and has become a reference point for broader scrutiny of how abuses in individual military units are investigated and addressed.
What happened
The Anti-Corruption Center (ЦПК) alleged that the State Bureau of Investigation (ДБР) may have known about alleged crimes in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" since at least March 2026. According to ЦПК, the Office of the Military Ombudsman sent eight letters to the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General between March and June 2026 describing possible offenses including failure to provide medical aid resulting in death, threats with firearms and combat grenades, unlawful detention, physical violence, and torture. In six of eight cases, the ДБР did not open pretrial investigations, citing insufficient grounds to enter the information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations (ЄРДР), and forwarded the materials to the Military Law Enforcement Service (ВСП). One case involved a complaint from a soldier's sister about her brother being beaten and later dying in hospital after not receiving medical aid; the ДБР investigator concluded there were insufficient grounds to register the case. ЦПК says the ДБР began investigating only after Babel published a major investigation on 23 June 2026 documenting 25 deaths of mobilized soldiers in the Skelia subunit between late autumn 2025 and spring 2026. On 24 June the regiment's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yuriy Harkavyi, was suspended from duty; on 25 June the regiment confirmed 25 deaths of its recruits and the commander's suspension. Subsequent ДБР actions included the 10 July detention of a serviceman suspected of beating a military chaplain and a lieutenant colonel, the 28 July notification of suspicion to two servicemen of the regiment's medical company, and the 2 September placement of the 425th regiment under the operational subordination of the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov." Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he had taken the verification of information about possible torture at the Skelia facility under personal control and dispatched a special monitoring group to the unit's deployment location.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
All three supplied articles are Ukrainian-language media outlets covering the ЦПК allegation. The coverage centers on institutional accountability, focusing on how the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General handled prior complaints about the Skelia regiment and on the steps taken after the case became public.
Where reporting differs
The death toll of mobilized soldiers connected to the 425th regiment is reported as 25 by Babel's initial investigation and as 26 in the regiment's own public response.
Background
On 23 June 2026, Babel published a major investigation documenting 25 deaths of mobilized soldiers in the Skelia regiment over the previous six months. The 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" issued a public response disputing some characterizations in the media investigations, saying 18 of the 26 deaths reported by journalists occurred in hospital or en route and were linked to diseases and the health condition of the mobilized. On 30 July, the publication Teksty reported similar alleged abuses in the 225th Separate Assault Regiment. On 2 September, the 425th regiment was placed under the operational subordination of the 1st Corps of the National Guard "Azov."