The State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) has detained a former commander of the 155th Anne of Kyiv Separate Mechanized Brigade, under whom the cases of desertion became widespread in the brigade.

"SBI officers, in cooperation with the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine], and with the assistance of the Defense Ministry and the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] command, detained the former commander of the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade, who did not respond to offenses in his unit, including the desertion by his soldiers," the SBI said in a Telegram message on Monday.

According to the Bureau, the commander also deliberately failed to perform other official duties assigned to him.

"In particular, during 2024, he did not submit to the pre-trial investigation authorities a single report regarding subordinate servicemen who committed criminal offenses," it said.

The investigation established that last year the colonel was aware of the desertion cases in his brigade.

"The command staff of the military unit reported to him about it not only verbally, but also wrote reports on the criminal offenses committed by subordinate servicemen," the SBI said.

The report does not specify the name of the commander. It is about Dmytro Riumshyn.

The Bureau said in a statement on its website that because of the commander's actions, law enforcers were unable to initiate a legal procedure to search for and return servicemen to the military unit and reserve battalions, as well as to ensure that they served their sentences for crimes committed.

"Some subordinates periodically left the place of service unauthorized, then voluntarily returned, after which they did it again, experiencing complete impunity for unlawful acts. The systematic concealment by the former commander of a significant number of crimes committed by subordinate servicemen had a negative impact on the activities of the brigade's management bodies," it said.

Also, according to the report, the commander did not take other preventive measures to eliminate the causes and conditions that contributed to the commission of unauthorized abandonment of the military unit by subordinates.

"In particular, in the lists of persons drawn up for training in the territory of the Republic of France, the colonel unreasonably included unmotivated men for military service. Among them were persons in respect of whom there were reservations and prohibitions in the instructions and orders of the top leadership," the SBI said.

According to the SBI, it is about 22 servicemen who were called up on mobilization from border regions with the place of registration in other regions, as well as 15 servicemen who were previously brought to administrative responsibility for an attempt to illegally cross the state border.

"As a result, 56 servicemen of the brigade unauthorized left the training grounds in France," it said.

Also, according to the SBI, due to the actions of the ex-brigade commander the performance of the AFU defense functions and certain combat tasks were complicated due to the insufficient number of personnel.

Law enforcers detained the former commander of the 155 brigade. He will be taken to Kyiv to receive suspicion of the failure of a military official to send to the pre-trial investigation authority a report on a subordinate who committed a criminal offense, as well as of a willful failure of a military official to act under martial law (Part 4 of Article 426 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

In addition, as reported by the SBI, a petition to the court is planned to select a preventive measure for the suspect in the form of detention.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine is in charge of procedural management.