Court keeps ex-commander of 155th Brigade Riumshyn in custody, reduces bail to UAH 10 million. VIDEO+PHOTOS
A court hearing was held on extending the preventive measure for Colonel Dmytro Riumshyn, former commander of the 155th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was reported by Censor.NET.
Prosecutors filed a motion to extend the existing preventive measure by 60 days
"Riumshyn is accused of creating conditions that led to a decline in discipline, military law and order, and servicemen not returning to their unit. The suspect should have been aware of the real situation in the brigade. He failed to supervise the selection of soldiers sent for training, some of whom had previously been held administratively liable. This caused significant harm under martial law.
We consider it necessary to extend the measure due to the risk of absconding from court and unlawfully influencing witnesses. I believe the suspect committed a serious crime. I request that the preventive measure be extended for 60 days," Prosecutor Yavdokymenko said.
Defense lawyer Andrii Yosypov argued in court that the bail set for Colonel Dmytro Riumshyn was disproportionate for a serviceman. He also pointed out that the prosecution had not provided evidence of intent in Riumshyn’s actions and had failed to prove the scale of the alleged damage.
"I asked the prosecution in writing: ‘How many reports were addressed specifically to Riumshyn?’ There were only 58 such cases. Each of these reports bears Riumshyn’s mark, which shows he was aware of incidents of AWOL among the soldiers and may not have reacted. But earlier, Riumshyn had been accused of more than 600 such cases," Yosypov said. "Intent must be established in relation to each soldier individually, and in every case there must also be proven specific damage," he stressed.
Addressing the court, Colonel Riumshyn said that given his combat experience, he would be of greater use to the state at the front rather than in military prison.
Judge Olena Busyk ruled to extend the preventive measure against Riumshyn in the form of custody. However, the bail amount that may be posted on his behalf was reduced from UAH 15 million to UAH 10 million. Riumshyn’s defense team intends to appeal both the preventive measure and the size of the bail.
The situation in the 155th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the case against its commander, Colonel Riumshyn
As a reminder, on 1 January 2025, Censor.NET editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov outlined a number of facts about the circumstances of the formation and functioning of the 155th mechanised brigade "Anna Kyivska", which entered the battle near Pokrovsk and suffered significant losses there.
According to him, the 155th Brigade faced a number of problems: 1,700 soldiers left the brigade without permission before the first battle, the brigade commander was fired immediately after the battle, and one of the brigade's leaders died of a heart attack.
Butusov conducted a lengthy investigation to find out what exactly led to the significant losses of brigade personnel and equipment and massive AWOL.
In October, the 155th Brigade left for training in France. 1924 servicemen were sent there, of whom only 51 had more than a year of military service experience, 459 had up to a year of experience, and the majority, 1414, had just enlisted and served for less than 2 months, about 150 were sent to France even without undergoing the BGMT. About 50 military brigades fled to France.
The editor-in-chief of Censor.NET also reports that the brigade was not provided with the necessary weapons. In particular, the brigade has not received a single drone from the state to carry out combat missions. Also, according to Butusov, there were no electronic warfare equipment. The brigade was supplied by volunteers. In addition, all the 120 mm mortar shells produced by the Ministry of Strategic Industries that were given to the brigade were defective.
On 2 January, it became known that the State Bureau of Investigation had launched an investigation into the massive AWOL in the 155th "Anna Kyivska" Brigade following media reports. In turn, the French Ministry of Defence did not comment on the information that the 155th "Anna Kyivska" Brigade, trained by the French Armed Forces, was the subject of an investigation in Ukraine.
Also in early January, the results of a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff regarding the 155th Brigade "Anna Kyivska" became known.
On 5 January, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, promised to increase the capabilities of the 155th Brigade and admitted that there were problems that needed to be addressed.
The editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, Yurii Butusov, said that the formation of new brigades without their support was a gross mistake that was costly for the country.
On 20 January 2025, the former commander of the 155th Brigade, Riumshyn, was detained by the SSU. And on 22 January, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv imposed a bail of UAH 90 million on him.
On 6 February, the Kyiv Court of Appeal left Riumshyn in custody. The court refused to release him on bail, instead reducing the bail from UAH 90 million to UAH 50 million.
On 11 June, the court remanded Riumshyn in custody until 20 July and reduced his bail to UAH 27 million.
On 4 September, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv reduced the bail for the former commander of the 155th Brigade, Dmytro Riumshyn, from UAH 22.7 million to UAH 14.9 million.
