Fake combat pay sparks inquiry in 155th Brigade
The OK West command is investigating alleged violations within the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Anna Kyivska, with results to be shared with law enforcement, Brig. Gen. Volodymyr Shvedyuk told Ukrainska Pravda on May 20.
The latest revelations about alleged abuses by individual officials in the brigade became the basis for his appointment of an internal investigation.
"A special group from among the most experienced officers of the OK 'West' has been sent to the brigade. We are fundamentally and impartially determined to clarify all the circumstances and establish all the details of the offense," Shvedyuk noted. After the work is completed, the materials will be transferred to law enforcement agencies.
Shvedyuk recalled that the 155th brigade was originally created as an infantry brigade, and later transformed into a mechanized one. The OK West command, according to him, accompanied the unit from the very beginning of its combat path: from December 2024 to March 2025, representatives of the command not only trained personnel, but sometimes directly led combat operations.
In fact, as the brigadier general noted, the operational command was building a combat control system together with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Commander of the Ground Forces. The purpose of this intervention was to eliminate the chaos in the management that arose as a result of the incapacity of the previous commander, Colonel Dmytro Ryumshin.
“He was not able to react to sharp changes in the combat situation in combat conditions,” Shvedyuk explained.
After an objective assessment of the situation, the commander was dismissed from his post.
The new commander, Colonel Taras Maksimov, was selected from several candidates who were selected urgently by the OK personnel body. The main criteria, as Shvedyuk emphasized, were combat experience, the ability to act in crisis conditions, and positive feedback from previous places of service. Maksimov, who had previously been the deputy brigade commander of the 14th Motorized Rifle Brigade, in the commander’s opinion, looked like “the most reasonable candidate” by all parameters, which is why he was submitted for approval to the Ground Forces Command.
At the same time, Shvedyuk emphasized: everyone who violated the law must be held accountable.
“I fully support the position of the Commander of the Ground Forces, Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi: regardless of positions, ranks, or past merits, everyone who violated the law will be held fully accountable for this,” he emphasized.
He added that OK Zakhid is “not just a management body, but a fighting brotherhood in which there is no room for irresponsibility.”
On May 19, Ukrainska Pravda published an investigation into mass cases of voluntary abandonment of the unit (SZCH), dubious “combat” payments, and the possible involvement of the brigade’s leadership in financial abuse. According to journalists, since the beginning of 2025, more than 1.2 thousand cases of SZCH have been recorded in the 155th brigade. After the publication, the commander of the Land Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Mykhailo Drapatyi, appointed an additional inspection.
In January 2025, it became known about the problems in the 155th brigade, which was formed and trained in France. Journalist and editor-in-chief of the publication Censor.NET Yuriy Butusov stated about the mass cases of SZCH in the brigade, the lack of command, necessary weapons, etc.
On January 5, Butusov reported that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, took the situation around the 155th SMR Anna Kyivska under personal control.
On January 20, the journalist stated that, according to him, the former commander of the 155th SMR Anna Kyivska, Colonel Dmytro Ryumshin, was detained in Chernivtsi.
On January 22, the court chose a preventive measure for him in the form of detention with the possibility of posting a bail of 90 million hryvnias (approximately 2.4 million US dollars). This decision was appealed in the court of appeals.
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