425th Skelya Regiment: 103 investigations into non-combat deaths
One case has already been referred to the court with an indictment
In 2026, law enforcement registered 103 criminal proceedings concerning non-combat deaths of servicemen of the 425th Separate Assault Regiment “Skelia”, which on Tuesday, 11 August, was reported by Member of Parliament, member of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence Oleksandr Fediyenko, citing the National Police’s response to his parliamentary inquiry.
Pre-trial investigations are currently ongoing within 61 proceedings; in 3 cases servicemen or other persons have already been notified of suspicion, and 1 case has been completed and referred to court with an indictment.
Another 41 proceedings have been closed, and the materials of 18 cases have been forwarded to prosecutors to check the legality of the decisions made.
According to Fediyenko, the number of opened proceedings by itself does not automatically mean that crimes occurred in every episode, since final conclusions must be made by investigators, the prosecution and the court.
He emphasized that such a scale of checks requires increased attention to servicemen’s conditions of service and to the effectiveness of investigations into deaths outside the combat zone.
The deputy also stated his intention to examine each episode separately so that the circumstances of servicemen’s deaths do not become dry statistics.
Separately, Fediyenko recalled another proceeding regarding the regiment “Skelia”: on 30 July a court remanded two fighters to 60 days in custody without the right to bail; they are accused of unlawful detention and beating of their comrades in service.
According to the court, one of the figures — a 28-year-old sanitary instructor of the medical company — denied guilt, claimed he had been framed, and intended to appeal the ruling; the second suspect — a 29-year-old clerk — also did not agree with the suspicion but did not plan to appeal the arrest. Overall, of the 103 registered proceedings, suspicions have been announced in only 3; a significant portion of the cases are already closed, and prosecutors are additionally checking the legality of certain decisions; earlier investigators published materials about cases of cruel treatment, maiming and murders in the regiment’s rear, indicating that commanders persecute fighters who try to turn to the SZCh due to humiliation and denial of medical assistance.
