“This demotivates the guys on the front lines”: An officer from “Skeli” on the regiment’s reaction to “Babel’s” investigation
9 July 20:12
YOUTUBE
Publications that discredit the military and contain allegations (regarding non-combat deaths of service members) have a very negative impact on the unit’s morale until the official investigation is completed. This was discussed in an interview with the YouTube channel
According to him, soldiers currently carrying out combat missions read these articles and comments on social media and find them deeply distressing.
“If you sum up all the words and comments, it turns out that we were all supposed to die,” he says.
Mykola argues that what upsets soldiers the most are generalizations, when negative assessments are applied to the entire unit. And of course, this “demotivates” the guys.
At the same time, the officer noted that certain conclusions do not correspond to the actual situation.
“The investigation is ongoing, and we’re cooperating with it. We’re not covering for anyone. And we have no intention of covering for anyone,” he says.
As a reminder, the publication “Babel” previously reported on 25 deaths of conscripts during basic military training in the “Skelya” regiment, and later released information about seven more such cases. Journalists handed over all the materials to investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR). A criminal case has been opened. The regiment states that it is cooperating with the investigation and supports the effort to establish all the circumstances.
Statements from the State Bureau of Investigation
The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), for its part, reported that “there was no information about possible torture in the ‘Skelya’ regiment, either from the command or from other agencies.”
At the same time, the Bureau’s investigators “are evaluating the actions of each commander.”
Position of the General Staff
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, commenting on the situation, stated the following:
“There must be transparency, as much as possible, because such cases cannot be swept under the rug—they must be addressed immediately in accordance with the law, through legal channels. On the one hand, we must not create a media frenzy around this regiment, because it is a combat regiment with traditions that emerged and were forged during the war; it fights on the most challenging sections of the front, and the soldiers of this regiment have repeatedly demonstrated examples of courage, resilience, heroism, and bravery while carrying out combat missions. And we must not distort this regiment’s combat history because of the actions of these isolated criminals, who cast a shadow not only on the regiment, as well as on the Army, the Armed Forces, and the assault troops,” Syrskyi said in an interview with TSN.
As reported by
