Under the procedural guidance of prosecutors from the Odesa Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the field of defense of the Southern region, an indictment has been sent to court against the deputy commander of a military unit, who received monetary compensation for subordinate servicemen in exchange for "covering" their absence from duty.

The investigation established that from 2022 to 2024, the lieutenant colonel, abusing his official position, unlawfully allowed subordinate servicemen to neglect their official duties and remain outside the military unit. In exchange for this, he received bank cards from them, from which he withdrew the monetary compensation that was allocated to them.

It was found that for the "release" of four subordinates from service, the accused received almost 2.5 million hryvnias, causing damage to the state.

The lieutenant colonel is accused of abusing his official position and aiding in the evasion of servicemen from fulfilling their military duties through other deception, committed under martial law (Part 2 of Article 364, Part 5 of Article 27, Part 4 of Article 409 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He has been chosen a preventive measure in the form of detention with the possibility of bail, which he has utilized.

During the pre-trial investigation, the amount of damage caused to the state was fully compensated.

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators from the Second Investigative Department (located in Odesa) of the Territorial Administration of the State Bureau of Investigation, based in Mykolaiv.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.