On May 1st, around 4:00 PM, at the temporary deployment site of the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade in Dnipro, a rank-and-file drone operator took the initiative to assemble personnel on his own. He personally called the formation, personally selected a victim — and personally decided what punishment would be "fair."

What happened: the investigation's version

According to the SBU, the suspect, despite holding the lowest military rank, attempted to establish his own "order" among the personnel — so that others would unconditionally follow his commands. The formation became a tool for demonstration: he called a soldier out of ranks toward whom he felt personal animosity, and began to beat him.

"From numerous blows, the victim lost consciousness, after which the attacker tied his hands with plastic cable ties. When the serviceman regained consciousness — the beating continued. Attempts by other fighters to intervene were aggressively suppressed by the perpetrator."

SBU, press service

The victim was hospitalized at a hospital in Dnipropetrovsk region. Video of the incident was published on May 4th by the public account dtp.kiev.ua — and it spread across most Ukrainian media outlets.

First days: confusion over the attacker's identity

Immediately after the video was published online, there were suggestions that the recording showed the brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Luchanov. The Ground Forces command denied this. The Military Police Service established that the attacker was a rank-and-file drone operator from one of the units, who left his place of service without permission after the incident.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky ordered a service investigation, which was assigned to the Eastern Territorial Department of the Military Police. The Dnipro Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Defense Sphere opened criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 406 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — violation of statutory rules of relations between servicemen. The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators of the Poltava Branch of the SBU.

Detention

For several days the suspect remained in hiding. The SBU detained him in Kropyvnytskyi. He was informed of the suspicion.

Context: the 155th Brigade under investigation is not a first time

This is not the first high-profile incident in the unit. In January 2026, the SBU and Security Service detained the former brigade commander, Colonel Dmytro Ryumshin — for failing to respond to mass unauthorized absence by subordinates; the court set bail at 90 million hryvnias. In May 2025, investigators detained the acting battalion commander of the unmanned systems battalion of the same brigade, Sviatoslav Shumsky, on suspicion of receiving bribes — according to the Security Service, he received 920 thousand hryvnias in "kickbacks" in March 2025 alone.

• Ryumshin — bail 90 million hryvnias, charged with tolerating mass unauthorized absence
• Shumsky — bail 49 million hryvnias, suspected of corruption (bribes for drones)
• Current suspect — rank-and-file soldier, Part 2 of Article 406 + unauthorized absence

Three different episodes, three different levels of hierarchy — from brigade commander to rank-and-file. If the 155th Brigade's command at all levels failed to monitor either corruption, discipline, or physical violence, the question is not only about specific individuals: will Syrsky's service investigation identify a systemic failure — or will it be limited to personal responsibility of a rank-and-file soldier?