Riumshyn’s case: Court reduces bail from UAH 22.7 million to 14.9 million. VIDEO
The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv has reduced the bail set for former commander of the 155th Brigade, Dmytro Riumshyn.
This was reported by Censor.NET.
"Only the amount of bail as an alternative to custody was reduced, from UAH 22.7 million to UAH 14.997 million. In percentage terms, this is quite a significant reduction."
The defense plans to appeal the case.
"Step by step, I think we will be able to reduce the bail to an amount we can afford to pay. I’m not talking about Mr. Riumshyn himself. Perhaps someone else will be willing to act as a guarantor. But the sum of 15 million is excessive for Riumshyn," he added.
The defense argues that the case has a political dimension.
"For some reason, no criminal charges have been brought against other commanders who were actually responsible for forming the brigade and whose actions could qualify as criminal offenses. That is why bail in the form of personal surety was not considered or applied. The only purpose here is to keep Mr. Riumshyn in isolation — as a signal and example to make other commanders and servicemen more restrained in showing their ambitions or anything else," Yosypov concluded.
What did Riumshyn say at the hearing?
"I understand that servicemen are also human and can commit certain offenses. But during wartime, to accuse a soldier of something that is in fact not a crime, based solely on assumptions, is… a striking example not only of assumptions but even of misleading. In the text of the suspicion, it says I failed to carry out an order from the Chief of the General Staff, but that order did not assign me any task. Unfortunately, the prosecution does not realize that measures begin with the appointment of a brigade commander. A commander cannot appoint himself, cannot carry out measures, because he is not the official assigned with that responsibility," he explained.
Riumshyn described the bail set for him as unrealistic.
"I did not commit a murder, no one died because of my actions, no material damage was caused. It's a pity that I discredited the military and political leadership... I didn't go to rallies and say 'go to the NWC' and so on. Regarding France, I also want to say that of the personnel who joined the NWC in France, it is 3% of the total personnel. The military law enforcement service, which was present to ensure law and order, left in France by 5%," he added.
"I didn’t commit murder, no one died because of my actions, no material damage was caused. The only harm is that the military-political leadership has been discredited. … I wasn’t out protesting or telling people to ‘go AWOL.’ As for France, I also want to point out that among those who went AWOL there, it was 3% of the personnel. The Military Law Enforcement Service, which was present to maintain order, saw 5% of their personnel go AWOL in France," he added.
The former commander also said prosecutors claim he allegedly helped servicemen evade their military duties, but no names are specified in the suspicion.
The prosecutor maintained that the essence of the suspicion has not changed, only the qualification, stressing that the alleged crimes are serious and pointing to the risk of document destruction. Prosecutors oppose changing the preventive measure.
MP Liudmyla Buimister has offered to take Riumshyn on personal recognizance.
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.
