In case of occupation of South, only military personnel of AFU appear. SBI interrogated commanders and spoke with Zaluzhnyy, - mass media
Investigators have not yet served anyone with a notice of suspicion, but this may happen in the near future.
According to Censor.NET, this is stated in the BBC material.
"Initially, the public space associated the 'surrender of the South' with traitors in the special service - the former head of the SSU in Crimea, Oleh Kulinich (allegedly, it was he who passed on to the Russians all the data on the deployment of troops and the infrastructure of the area), as well as the former head of the SSU in the Kherson region, Serhii Kryvoruchko," the authors of the investigation note.
However, journalists later found out that Kulinich was not involved in the case of the occupation of the South, nor were other SSU officers. It turned out that only the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were involved in this case.
According to the BBC, no one has yet been served with a notice of suspicion in the case, but this could likely happen in the near future.
"We have learned from reliable sources that investigators have already interrogated a whole list of generals and representatives of the military command. Among them are the commander of the defense forces, Serhii Nayev, former commanders of the 'South' military grouping, including generals Andrii Kovalchuk and Andrii Sokolov, as well as commanders of other military formations that are part of this grouping.
General Viktor Muzhenko, former Chief of the General Staff, also testified. On the morning of 24 February 2022, he joined the highest military command and helped to make decisions at the headquarters," the authors of the article note.
Sources said that another former chief of the General Staff, General Ruslan Khomchak, was interrogated. Former leaders of the Kherson region also testified, including the former head of the Kherson regional military administration, Hennadiy Laguta, who was found dead in Kyiv on 16 September.
"Several of our sources also claim that investigators came to talk to Valerii Zaluzhnyy as part of the investigation into this case. According to the BBC, the commander-in-chief does not yet have a procedural status in this case, nor has he received an official summons for questioning. But it is possible that such a status will appear later. Given this possible development, in narrow political circles, the case of the occupation of the South is already being called the Zaluzhnyy case.
We wrote a request to the SBI to find out whether Zaluzhnyy was involved in this investigation, but they refused to provide this information. The SSU, whose representatives are involved in the joint investigation team in this case, also refused to provide the same information. The intelligence service said that the main investigative body in this case is the State Bureau of Investigation, so all questions should be addressed to the bureau," the newspaper writes.
Investigators also questioned Colonel Oleksandr Vinohradov, the former commander of the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, which defended the South. In total, more than fifty people testified in the case. They also interrogated soldier Ivan Sestrivatovsky, who had previously said in an interview that he was supposed to blow up the bridges on Chonhar, but for some reason failed to do so.
