Some 20 soldiers from the 51st Separate Mechanized Brigade (SMB) who in July 2014 were forced to surrender and returned to Ukraine via Russia continue to be charged by Ukrainian courts of dereliction of duty, according to defenders of the servicemen.

"[Ukraine's] Military Prosecutor's Office for three years has been attempting to prove that they are criminals. Unfortunately, we are not talking about fair court trials or about justice regarding these defenders of Ukraine," Oleksandr Olenchenko said on Wednesday during a press conference hosted by the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Olenchneko said military prosecutors were predisposed negatively towards SMB members during their investigation of the tragedy.

"Political shenanigans involving the Ilovaisk tragedy and SMB have reached the point where they are trying to convict the soldiers in court. Prosecutors, instead of putting an end to the disgrace and refusing to present state charges in court, continue to press their case stubbornly," the lawyers said.

Olenchenko said chief of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Yuriy Lutsenko earlier said criminal charges brought against SMB soldiers would be dropped.

"He kept the promise, with the exception of 42 soldiers from the brigade," Olenchenko said, noting that 20 of the 40 soldiers were sentenced after acknowledging their guilt in plea bargains with military prosecutors. They were officials found guilty and given three-year suspended sentences," Olenchenko said.

Lawyer Serhiy Hryshko said currently 20 servicemen from the unit are accused of shirking their military responsibilities.

As earlier reported, Ukrainian soldiers from the unit entered Russian territory in June 2014 after they ran out of ammunition, food and water. According to SMB commanders and the soldiers, the soldiers did so after being shelled with GRAD rockets and mortars and after they ran out of food and water. In order not to be taken prisoner by Russia-backed militants, the servicemen were forced to cross the Ukraine-Russia border at the Izvarino border crossing point.

The PGO announced on May 20 [2016] that it had dropped criminal charges against almost 150 members of the brigade from Volodymyr-Volynskoho, Volyn region, who in 2014 absented the unit. The PGO at the time said "it is necessary to conduct additional investigatory work, including receiving explanations for why the servicemen absented their unit."

"We call on servicemen wanted by law-enforcement agencies for dereliction of military duty and ask that they independently and willingly report to the nearest military prosecutor's office," the PGO said then.

In May 2016 Lutsenko said investigators had asked soldiers from the unit to explain why they entered Russian territory in order to close the case against them.

"Investigators as of today have made this appeal, and I want to repeat it for 170 soldiers of the Volyn SMB, so that they go to Lutsk [Volyn region] and provide an explanation of what happened during June 2014. The case will then be closed," Lutsenko said on Monday during a press briefing in Kyiv.

Lutsenko said soldiers who fought against the aggressor with weapons in their hands would not be charged of wrongdoing.

"Those who were forced to surrender and who returned to Ukraine via Russia will probably get a notice about changed circumstances – an opportunity for the case against them to be closed. Those who cooperated with the terrorists, unfortunately, and there are several of them, will be punished," Lutsenko said.