In 125th Terrorist Defense Brigade, a commander set fire to a military vehicle because they did not comply with his orders. PHOTOS
A video of a military pickup truck on fire was posted online. Vitaliy Karvatskiy, a soldier from 215th battalion of 125th brigade of Lviv territorial army, who posted video, said that vehicle was deliberately set on fire by battalion commander Andrii Selekhman.
According to Censor.NET, Karvatskyi posted the video on Twitter.
While the whole country is donating to buy cars for the army, my #f*cking floating combatant is blowing them up with grenades - because the guys don't need to drive.
- Tactical Tourist 🇺🇦 (@tacticalturist) 29 May 2023
A message from the guys from the RVP. That's the kind of shit you guys are looking at. pic.twitter.com/GkoSh5GTmF
"While you're out there, as a country, donating to buy cars for the army, my *f*cking floating commander is blowing them up with grenades, because f*ck the guys," he signed his post.
"Look how the car is burning. For going to Lyman (Donetsk region - Ed.) to buy petrol. For the guys going to buy petrol for the generator at their own expense. 215th battalion of the 125th brigade. The commander is Andriy Selekhman. Volunteers were raising money, people were trying, but it set fire to them," the soldiers say in the voiceover.
The video became widely publicised. A few hours after it was published, Karvatskyi said that he was summoned to the battalion commander.
Upon his return, Karvatskyi said that Commander Andrii Selekhman threatened him with criminal liability and asked him to record a refutation and public apology for the 'slander'.
"All of you have probably seen the video of the car that was burnt by the commander. I had an hour-long conversation with threats against me. The threats against the guys from the RRR (repair and restoration regiment) were as follows: either I record a video with an apology for the slander, or the SBU starts an investigation against me for filming and distributing materials and lying about the commander. If you see this video, I have made my choice and I will not go back on my words, because it is a fact that the commander burned the car. The official version is that it was hit by a piece of debris. The RVP guys were given a choice. They chose to show less resistance, not to sign the report and to adhere to the official version of events. They will take away my phone and I will not be able to give any comments. I will most likely be f**ked. I hope not physically. A lot of cases are being pinned on me because the command is covering up," he said.
The Regional Directorate of the Territorial Defence Forces "West" in a comment to Hromadske said that an internal investigation was being conducted into the matter.
On 30 May, at 15:43, Vitaliy published a new post. He said that representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine, the brigade's management, and representatives of the TRO forces' management came to the brigade. According to the fighter, they found evidence that the vehicle had indeed been blown up by a grenade.
"The incident became publicised and did not go unnoticed by Kyiv. Today, representatives of the control intelligence, the brigade command, and representatives of the TRO forces department arrived to investigate the situation. I hope there will be some positive developments, but the main problem is that I am not a party to the situation. I didn't see it personally, so I need confirmation from the soldiers who were there," Karvatsky wrote.
According to him, the direct witnesses to the incident "due to possible intimidation by criminal cases, testify that they saw nothing, know nothing, as if the car detonated on its own".
"However, as it happens when you make things up, everyone gets confused in their testimony, and this was noticed by the control intelligence representatives. They also found circumstantial evidence that their version of events was a lie, and that the commander had indeed blown up the car with a grenade. Additionally, there were traces of debris inside the vehicle.
I do not know how the situation will develop further. So far, it is clear that the controlling intelligence is on the side of the truth, and so is the brigade management. I hope that this is not just lip service. I hope they will make the right choice, and that the punishment will not be for the person who shot the video or the person who distributed it, but for the person who exceeded his authority and blew up the vehicle, i.e. the commander," the fighter said.
Lawyer and war veteran Masi Nayem said that he had spoken to Vitaliy Karvatskiy and assured him that he would "defend him free of charge".
"I have just spoken to him. He was summoned to the commander's office, the VSP (Military Law Enforcement Service - Ed.) was there. He is not a witness. The RVPs were witnesses, but the guys refused to testify. Counterintelligence checked their phones and found out that the commander did blow it up.
Now, the brigade commander has verbally acknowledged that Vitaliy is right. Whether there will be consequences and an investigation is in question. Vitaliy has written an explanation. We will protect Vitaliy from violations of his rights," Nayem said.
In a comment to ZAXID.NET, Masi Nayyem added that the commander who blew up the car faces criminal liability.
"In my practice, there have been cases when a commander behaves incorrectly. If it is established that the car was a volunteer vehicle and it was put on the balance sheet, the commander has actually damaged state property. He will be held accountable for this. I'm at the frontline now and I can't imagine a situation where I'm given a car and not obliged to put it on the balance sheet. We have all the cars on our balance sheet. Based on this design, I believe that the car was on the balance sheet. This is criminal liability, but even if it was not on the balance sheet, it is people's property. I can't imagine why the commander would blow up the car (unless there are Russians in it)," the human rights activist explained.
He also explained that even if the men had gone to Lyman without permission to do their own business, the battalion commander had no right to do so.
"I don't know if the military were travelling without permission. But this reaction of the commander shows that he is not behaving adequately in terms of responding to violations. Even if the soldiers had left the unit illegally, he still had no legal right to do so," Masi Nayyem concluded.
In a comment to Svidomi, Commander Andriy Selekhman said that he did not confirm the information about the car being set on fire. However, he did not give his version of the car's fire.
