Anti-corruption group alleges Ukrainian investigators delayed probe into Skelia regiment abuses by months
Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Center (ЦПК) alleged that the State Bureau of Investigation (ДБР) received reports of alleged torture, beatings and deaths in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" months before opening a probe. 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 alleged crimes including failure to provide medical aid resulting in death, threats with firearms and combat grenades, unlawful deprivation of liberty, physical violence, and torture. The ДБР only began investigating after Babel published its investigation on 23 June documenting 25 deaths of mobilized soldiers over the previous six months.
Key points
- 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 alleged crimes including failure to provide medical aid resulting in death, threats with firearms and combat grenades, unlawful deprivation of liberty, physical violence, and torture.
- In 6 of 8 cases the ДБР did not open an investigation, citing lack of sufficient grounds for registration in the ЄРДР and forwarding materials to the ВСП, according to ЦПК.
- The ДБР began investigating only after Babel published its investigation on 23 June, which documented 25 deaths of mobilized soldiers in "Skelia" over the previous six months.
- Regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Harkavyi was suspended from duty on 24 June for the duration of the inspection.
- The 425th regiment said 18 of the 26 deaths reported by journalists occurred in hospital or en route and were related to illnesses and health conditions.
Why it matters
The allegation points to a multi-month gap between credible reports of abuse, torture and deaths in a frontline assault regiment and the opening of a criminal probe, naming the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General as institutional actors that received and did not act on those reports. It comes amid wider reporting about systemic abuse of mobilized soldiers in assault units, and has already produced a concrete personnel consequence: the suspension of the regiment's commander Yuri Harkavyi pending inspection.
What happened
According to ЦПК, the Office of the Military Ombudsman sent eight letters to the State Bureau of Investigation (ДБР) and the Office of the Prosecutor General between March and June 2026 describing alleged crimes in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia," including failure to provide medical aid resulting in death, threats with firearms and combat grenades, unlawful deprivation of liberty, physical violence, and torture. The earliest such letter identified in the available material was sent on 30 March 2026 by a soldier's sister, reporting that her brother had been beaten and denied medical aid and subsequently died in hospital. ЦПК says that in 6 of 8 cases the ДБР declined to enter the information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (ЄРДР), citing insufficient grounds, and forwarded the materials to the Military Law Enforcement Service (ВСП) for additional verification. The probe only began after Babel published a 23 June investigation documenting 25 deaths of mobilized soldiers in "Skelia" over the previous six months, based on interviews with more than 30 witnesses, including about ten "Skelia" servicemen who had fled the regiment or were still serving there. On 24 June, the regiment's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Harkavyi, was suspended from duty for the duration of the inspection. The ДБР announced it was investigating the alleged violations as abuse of power or official authority committed under martial law that caused serious consequences. The regiment has said the authors of the material were making generalizations that reduced the unit's history to individual tragic cases, and that 18 of the 26 deaths reported by journalists occurred in hospital or en route and were related to illnesses and health conditions; the command said it was ready to cooperate with law enforcement and other authorized bodies. Babel later counted at least seven additional deaths of mobilized soldiers connected to the regiment.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
The supplied articles are Ukrainian-language media coverage centering the same ЦПК allegation that the ДБР received reports of serious crimes in "Skelia" months before opening a probe. They frame the story as an institutional accountability issue, naming the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General as the bodies that failed to act on credible reports of torture and deaths, and they present the regiment's contestation of the journalist-reported death toll — 25 versus 26, and the regiment's claim that most deaths were illness-related — as the unit's response rather than as a counter-narrative.
Where reporting differs
Babel's initial investigation reported 25 deaths of mobilized soldiers connected to the 425th regiment, while the regiment's own response accounted for 26, and disputed the framing by saying 18 of those deaths occurred in hospital or en route and were related to illnesses and health conditions.
Background
The 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" has been the subject of investigative reporting alleging torture, beatings and deaths of mobilized soldiers; the regiment's command has publicly disputed the framing and tally of those deaths. A second regiment, the 225th Separate Assault Regiment, was the subject of a 30 July investigation by "Teksty" describing similar alleged practices including systematic beatings, torture, and blocking detachments.