"The perpetrators took victims outside the city, beat them, and demanded money or valuables. The most cynical aspect is that the attackers targeted people who had been severely wounded in the war and were undergoing rehabilitation. For example, the suspects took a 27-year-old Ternopil resident's KIA vehicle and used it for their own purposes. Police later found the car in the Kyiv region," the statement said.

Investigators have now charged seven individuals under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 2 of Article 127 (torture), Part 2 of Article 146 (unlawful imprisonment or kidnapping), Part 4 of Article 187 (robbery), and Part 2 of Article 289 (unlawful seizure of a vehicle).

The operation to expose and stop the group's criminal activity was carried out by detectives from the regional criminal investigation department and the Ternopil regional police, with the support of the Ministry of Defense, the Ternopil Zonal Office of the Military Law Enforcement Service, and under the procedural supervision of the Ternopil Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the area of defense of the Western Region.

"Earlier, we received operational information about the illegal activities of several military personnel in the Ternopil region. In addition, local residents contacted us with complaints about these individuals' abuse of power. At present, police investigators have served seven suspects with notices of suspicion under various articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – torture, unlawful imprisonment, robbery, and unlawful seizure of a vehicle," said Serhii Ziubanenko, head of the main directorate of the National Police in the Ternopil region.

During the arrests, officers seized mobile phones, vehicles, weapons, and other tools used in the crimes, along with photo and video evidence from the suspects' phones documenting their actions.

Police documented multiple cases of particular brutality. In one instance, active-duty servicemen kidnapped a soldier undergoing medical treatment, forcing him into a van, beating him, threatening him with weapons, and demanding UAH 50,000 for his release.

In another case, a Ternopil resident was pepper-sprayed, forced into a van, and taken outside the city. There, the attackers stripped him, doused him with a flammable liquid, and forced him to run in front of their vehicle before beating and detaining him in inhumane conditions for three days.

Another incident took place in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where the suspects stopped a victim's car, forcibly transferred him to their own vehicle, and stole his car. They intimidated their victims, threatening physical harm if they went to the police.

The arrests were carried out by Ternopil police and special-purpose police units, with support from KORD special forces from four regions of Ukraine, as part of a large-scale operation to halt the servicemen's criminal activities.

Law enforcement conducted a series of authorized searches across the Ternopil, Kyiv, and Kharkiv regions.

Police are now identifying other individuals connected to the crimes. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.

Photo credit: Ukraine's National Police

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