Syrskyi to inspect 59th Brigade after claims of heavy losses
15 July 2024 12:35
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has ordered to check the situation in the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk and find out the circumstances of the recent losses among the brigade’s personnel. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“In order to check the situation in the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk and to clarify the circumstances of the recent losses among the personnel, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to send a comprehensive working group headed by the Chief of the Military Law Enforcement Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the area of responsibility of the unit,”
– the statement said.
Earlier, paramedic Kateryna Polishchuk “Ptashka” appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to conduct an official inspection of the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk, where she served.
According to her, for more than a year, the paramedic had been in the combat zone side by side with the 59th Separate Mechanised Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk. Ptashka noted that during their cooperation, the brigade was commanded by Vadym Olehovych Sukharevskyi and military professional Maksym Oleksandrovych Stetsenko.
However, the servicewoman noted that due to official decisions and “family ties” of the senior military leadership, Bohdan Shevchuk was appointed commander of the 59th Separate Mechanised Brigade in April 2024.
In particular, the paramedic asked to “pay attention to and conduct an internal investigation into the facts of criminal orders, deliberate negligence, disregard for the life and health of personnel, and actions that led to the deaths of a large number of servicemen.”
“Since thousands of soldiers are still performing combat missions in the combat zone under Shevchuk’s leadership, I ask you, Mr Supreme Commander-in-Chief, to pay attention and conduct an internal investigation into the facts of criminal orders, deliberate negligence, disregard for the lives and health of personnel, actions that led to the deaths of a large number of servicemen, including those from high leadership positions, selfishness, blind careerism, removal of all “dissenting” commanders, suppression of morale and humiliation of personnel by complete indifference to the main goal of the military and his role as a commander in the war against the enemy,” she said,
– she emphasised.
Ptashka stressed that due to Shevchuk’s inhuman and unprofessional attitude, she was forced to stop working with this brigade, but, according to her, not everyone has this opportunity due to criminal orders that are aimed only at “getting additional stars for this person”.
It turned out that this was not the first scandal involving this brigade. The day before, Alina Mikhailova, head of the medical service of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, reported a conflict in the 59th Brigade over the inadequate quality of care at the level of the medical unit. She noted that her appeal was almost ignored.
“The situation. I, the head of the medical service of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, am writing a comment to my ‘senior superior’ about the inadequate quality of care at the medrota level and doubts about the professionalism and knowledge of the protocols of one of the anaesthetists at the stabilisation unit. The senior officer, represented by the head of the medical service of the 59th Brigade, Major Alina Yevhenivna Osiyevska, responds to this with a quote from her Vkontakte days,”
– said the paramedic.
After that, Mykhailova showed us exactly how this superior responded:
“If you sit by a river for a long time, you can see the corpses of your enemies floating down it. Eastern wisdom. Have a good day and you”.
The activist added that such words could be regarded as a threat, so she appealed to the brigade command, which has already responded.
