Former commander of the Kharkiv military district, Galushkin, was detained after posting bail. He is facing new charges.

This is reported on the GBR website.

According to the investigation, Galushkin facilitated the unauthorized withdrawal from the battlefield of military personnel from the 125th separate territorial defense brigade.

The unauthorized withdrawal of the soldiers led to a loss of strategic initiative, allowing the occupiers to penetrate the brigade's defensive line by up to 10 km, which enabled them to shell Kharkiv with artillery, as noted by the GBR.

Law enforcement officials emphasized that during the first day of the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region in May 2024, nearly a hundred Ukrainian servicemen were wounded, killed, or went missing.

The GBR and the Security Service of Ukraine detained the former commander. He is now expected to be charged under part 5 of article 27 and article 429 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — for aiding in the unauthorized withdrawal from the battlefield or refusing to act with weapons.

Recall that on January 21, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv imposed a preventive measure on Galushkin — detention for 60 days with the possibility of posting bail of 5 million hryvnias. On Wednesday, January 22, the required amount was paid.

Journalists from hromadske conducted an investigation to determine what led to the breach of the border — the actions of the servicemen or more global reasons. For more details, read the article.

Investigation of the breach in the Kharkiv region

The day before, on January 20, law enforcement detained former commanders responsible for the defense of the Kharkiv region. They are suspected of negligence that led to the capture of part of the region's territory in early May 2024.

Among the detainees are former commander of the operational-tactical group "Kharkiv" Yuriy Galushkin, former commander of the 125th brigade Artur Gorbenko, and former commander of the 415th separate rifle battalion of the 23rd brigade, suspected of organizing the unauthorized abandonment of the battlefield.

Back in May 2024, the State Bureau of Investigations initiated an investigation regarding the breach of the Russian troops across the border in the Kharkiv region. In particular, the investigation into the unauthorized abandonment of the battlefield and negligent attitude towards military service involved the command of the 125th brigade.

In the brigade itself, they denied the retreat of their units from the occupied defensive positions, calling it "an outright IPSO insertion." Furthermore, after media reports emerged about the initiation of investigations regarding the breach in the Kharkiv region, the military brigade called for "an end to information attacks" against their unit.

"Some say that [we] allowed the enemy to pass into Volchansk, although that is a completely different area, and the units of the 125th brigade were never there and should not have been," the brigade wrote.

Later, brigade commander Artur Gorbenko announced that he was resigning. Gorbenko did not specify the reason for his resignation but noted that he would continue to serve in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The 125th separate territorial defense brigade reacted to the detention of its former commander Artur Gorbenko. They stated that his guilt has not been proven yet, and in court, they want to tell the "real truth".