Commander of Ukraine ‘mock crucifixion’ army unit accused of corruption over alleged abuse of power

The commander of a Ukrainian army unit accused of subjecting soldiers to abuse including mock crucifixions is facing corruption charges after allegedly ordering troops to build him a house.

Colonel Oleh Poberezhniuk, the commander of the 211th Pontoon Bridge Brigade, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of taking four soldiers from their duties to do construction work for his new home in the Khmelnytskyi region in autumn 2023.

The troops were reported to have received a combat bonus while working on the building.

Col Poberezhniuk was charged with abuse of power and later released after bail of £17,300 was posted, Ukrainian media said.

The prosecutor’s office did not specify whether Col Poberezhniuk allegedly paid the bail or if it was paid for him.

Officials ordered an investigation into the 211th earlier this week after allegations of widespread abuse and extortion of its soldiers were published by a Ukrainian newspaper.

Ukrainska Pravda said that the engineering unit’s troops were routinely beaten and told to pay money to officers to avoid being sent to an infantry unit, where the chance of being killed is much higher.

The report included a photo of a soldier posing in front of another soldier who has been tied to a cross in what looks like a crucifixion.

The newspaper alleged that one of the worst abusers was the son of the unit’s chief of staff,  and also the godson of Col Poberezhniuk.

The man allegedly threatened to use his family connections to have soldiers sent to the front “as meat” if they did not give him money, the newspaper said, citing one of the unit’s sergeants.

He was also alleged to have locked soldiers in a “cage” until they paid him money.

According to Ukrainian law, military officials do not have the right to have relatives subordinate to them.

The newspaper published statements from soldiers and photographs as evidence for the claims in its investigation, which has triggered uproar across Ukrainian social networks.

Information about the unit’s alleged activities was given to the defence ministry by a parliamentary investigative commission in September but “nothing was done”, Oleksiy Goncharenko, an MP and commission member, told The Telegraph.

Mr Goncharenko said that the situation is “absolutely unacceptable” and “discredits trust in the armed forces”.

“The guilty must be held responsible,” he said.

Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainian defence minister, said: “My position as a minister is clear: all those responsible must be punished.”

The scandal comes as the Ukrainian army struggles to replenish its ranks, which have been badly depleted by almost three years of war.

The manpower shortage has contributed to a series of setbacks at the front, where Ukraine has been forced into retreat in the south eastern Donetsk region over the past year.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has resisted American calls to lower the conscription age to 18 to plug the gap, which has caused friction with Joe Biden’s White House.

The Ukrainian general staff on Saturday were forced to deny reports that air defence personnel would be transferred to the infantry to make up for manpower shortages at the front.

The 211th Pontoon Bridge Brigade scandal is the latest in a series of corruption controversies that have damaged the reputation of Kyiv’s ministry of defence.

Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, said last month that it had uncovered a procurement scam allegedly conducted by two logistics officers that had defrauded the state of around £500,000.

£31m mortar contract fraud exposed

In February, the SBU said it had discovered a £31 million fraud related to a mortar shell contract.

Oleksiy Reznikov, Mr Umerov’s predecessor as defence minister, was forced to resign in September 2023 after several allegations of embezzlement at the ministry, including one involving the procurement of eggs at massively inflated prices.

Conscription and desertion have become uncomfortable issues for the army and for Ukrainian society as a whole.

More than 100,000 soldiers have been charged with desertion since the Russian invasion of 2022, Kyiv’s prosecutor general’s office revealed in November.

In late October, around 100 members of the 123rd Brigade abandoned their positions and returned to their homes in the Mykolayiv region, where they staged a protest that demanded more weapons.

In August, a law was passed that would pardon soldiers who had fled as long as they agreed to rejoin the army.

A survey of 400 military-eligible men conducted by a Kyiv-based research agency in February found that only 35 percent were prepared to serve if called.

Social media has also been flooded with videos of enlistment officers dragging men off the street and into the army.

Telegram channels have been set up that post sightings of recruitment officers so that others can avoid them.

Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, who was appointed commander of Ukraine’s ground forces in November, earlier this month unveiled reforms including what he said would be a revamped recruitment system with “zero tolerance” for corruption.

Mistrust of the internal hierarchy has led to several incidents of whistleblowers turning to the press.

Ukrainska Pravda said its two-month investigation into the 211th began when it was approached by concerned army officers, including one who had tracked down a deserter from the unit who said he would be killed if he was unable to find the money to give to the son of the chief of staff.