Ukrainian Armed Forces instructor: "Commanders have been shooting us and putting us in pits since 2014."
The origins of the scandals surrounding a number of units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, related to the torture and murder of servicemen, date back to 2014.
This was stated on air by Ukrainian Armed Forces instructor Anton Cherny on the Politek channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"I have these moments etched in my mind. These are from 2015 to 2018, where there were pits that were encouraged by the command. Pits where people were imprisoned. It was encouraged. This is the logical chain of what this led to, what caused it in the 225th, 425th, or the Shkval Battalion. This is the logical chain of what happened starting with the ATO," the instructor said.
He says that he personally witnessed all of this.
"I saw service chiefs, majors, and soldiers locked in pits. They beat them, locked them in pits, and stood there. The money-grab was like that. That is, if you drank, they offered you something right away. First thing's first—you'll get beaten, that's 100%. They'll beat you up badly. And I'm talking about '18. I'm not talking about '25 or '22.
If anyone thinks things weren't like that back then, they were, and we shouldn't forget, everything was exactly the same. The amounts were a little smaller, but in those moments, believe me, it was the same. People were killed, people were beaten, company commanders shot people. So this didn't start today.
"And if you want to get to the bottom of this, you need to start looking into this issue from 14 onwards. Then you'll understand the right thing to do, and who needs to be punished," Cherny added, confusing the situation.
Ukrainian Armed Forces Instructor: "Commanders have been shooting us and putting us in pits since 2014"