DBR knew about murders and torture in the Skelya regiment as early as March, but delayed investigations for months — CPC

DBR knew about murders and torture in the Skelya regiment as early as March, but delayed investigations for months — CPC

The State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) received reports about alleged crimes committed by servicemembers of the —th Separate Assault Regiment “Skelya” at least as early as March 2026. However, most of the complaints were not investigated by law enforcement and were forwarded to the Military Law Enforcement Service 425.

This was reported by the Anti-Corruption Center (CPC), which obtained access to the relevant documents.

The CPC obtained a response from the Office of the Military Ombudsman to a request from members of parliament. Attached were copies of 8 letters that the Office of the Military Ombudsman sent to the DBR from March through June 2026. These letters informed law enforcement, including the DBR and the Office of the Prosecutor General, about complaints from servicemembers and their relatives and requested investigations.

The letters described, among other things, beatings of servicemembers, denial of medical care that, according to the complaint, led to the death of a servicemember, threats involving firearms and combat grenades, unlawful deprivation of liberty, physical violence and torture, as well as other alleged illegal actions by Skelya officials.

At the same time, the DBR mostly refused to open investigations and referred the materials to the Military Law Enforcement Service or other law enforcement bodies.

For example, on 30 March the DBR received a complaint from a servicemember’s sister about her brother’s beating. According to the statement, he was then denied medical care and later died in the hospital.

A DBR investigator said there were insufficient grounds to enter information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations. The materials were instead sent to the Military Law Enforcement Service for “additional fact-checking.”

In its response, the Office of the Military Ombudsman noted that the DBR investigator claimed the received materials allegedly lacked complete and objective data that could indicate a criminal offense within the bureau’s jurisdiction.

The CPC emphasizes that the law obliges an investigator to start a pre-trial investigation after receiving a report of a criminal offense.

On 23 June the media outlet Babel published a piece about numerous violations of servicemembers’ rights in Skelya. It described crimes similar to those the Office of the Military Ombudsman had previously reported to the DBR. According to the CPC, the bureau had been forwarding such complaints to the Military Law Enforcement Service in response.

After the public disclosure, the DBR entered a statement into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations and opened an investigation into the violations in the Skelya regiment.

A letter from the Office of the Military Ombudsman dated 18 June also mentioned another complaint. According to it, a servicemember was unlawfully held in a basement, subjected to physical force and faced firearms threats.

Since the DBR had already opened proceedings regarding the crimes in Skelya reported by Babel, this complaint was added to the case materials and was not re-sent to the Military Law Enforcement Service.

Of the 8 responses from the DBR that the CPC received, only in 2 cases did the bureau report the start of an investigation rather than formally forwarding the complaint to the Military Law Enforcement Service.

For example, a complaint about violations at the Kamianske Military Commissariat and Recruitment Center, which described unlawful deprivation of liberty, violence and torture, was sent to the National Police of Dnipropetrovsk region. Another complaint related to crimes in Skelya was added to an already opened proceeding.

At the same time, in 6 of 8 responses the DBR reported a lack of sufficient grounds to open a criminal proceeding and sent the materials to the Military Law Enforcement Service.

CPC Executive Director Darya Kalenyuk said this situation highlights problems with the DBR’s effectiveness.

“Reports of physical violence by commanders against soldiers in certain units were already with investigators, but it took journalists’ publication for an investigation to begin. Sukhachov’s team may report thousands of cases, but the real result is stopping the misconduct of inadequate commanders toward subordinate servicemembers. When the DBR forwards complaints instead of investigating the facts they describe, it fails its main task. Our servicemembers and their families pay for that inefficiency with their health and lives,” Kalenyuk said.

The CPC also noted that a similar situation occurred with appeals to Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko and his prosecutors. These appeals about violations of servicemembers’ rights were sent back in July 2025, but according to the Center the prosecutor’s office did not respond.

“The DBR can claim all it wants that it systematically counters war crimes. But when it needs to protect servicemembers from violence and abuse by inadequate command, Oleksii Sukhachov’s agency simply withdraws. Meanwhile, the bureau has the time and resources to persecute ordinary servicemembers and carry out political orders,” added Darya Kalenyuk.