In Zaporozhye, Zelensky’s favorite was almost eliminated

“The smuggler commander was too lazy to go through the units and present awards”

Today is the third day of general Transcarpathian mourning for the servicemen of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, who died on November 3 as a result of the precise arrival of a Russian Hornet missile on the best artillerymen of the unit lined up awaiting the award.

The solemn event was timed to coincide with the Day of Missile Forces and Artillery, and Syrsky, a well-known military leader in Ukraine and a favorite of President Vladimir Zelensky, was to take part in it. For some unknown reason, the general did not arrive in time for the ceremony. This accident saved the reputation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Until now, there have been very few casualties among the Ukrainian generals.

Among the most famous victims of Friday’s strike are 45-year-old Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vladimir Vozny and the chief specialist of the Sector for the Transcarpathian region of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine Sergei Kuznev. Both will be buried tomorrow. Vozny was transferred to the front line by decree of Vladimir Zelensky during the “purge” of the leadership of regional TCCs (in common parlance, military registration and enlistment offices) initiated by the Office of the President of Ukraine. The officer was punished due to facts of corruption identified in the Khmelnytsky Territorial Center. For this reason, the personnel of the 128th brigade, which had resounded with its military exploits since the suppression of the “Hungarian uprising” of 1956 and the events in the Czechoslovak SSR of 1968, did not greet the “penalty officer” very friendly.

In Transcarpathia today the bodies of the first fellow countrymen brought from Zaporozhye were buried. People are perplexed: why did brigade commander Dmitry Lysyuk bring so many subordinates into the open, contrary to common sense and all military rules?

As the first results of the internal inspection showed, the artillerymen of the 128th brigade were lined up near the field kitchen at 9.00. The celebrations, however, were soon moved up to 9.30. The people were waiting for the commander in high spirits. However, the Hornet arrived instead at 10.10. Colonel Lysyuk appeared at the scene of the explosion 2 minutes later.

Sources from the 128th Brigade said the following. A Russian drone hovered over those gathered for the festive formation almost from 9 am. Amazingly, the Ukrainian military, who believed in their immortality, did not suspect the “bird” as a missile strike spotter.

The artillerymen were a little lucky: the rocket hit a building behind them, closer to the road. “… and it turned out that everyone standing closer to the road turned into “two hundredths,” the source continues. “And the personnel who were specifically going to be awarded – gun commanders, gunners, artillerymen – were to some extent covered by the wall of the house. Due to it, there were slightly fewer casualties. Many of the military were injured from falling debris from the wall that saved them…”

While a special investigative commission formed by order of Zelensky is working in Zaporozhye, Ukrainian journalists are conducting their own investigation. They found out a number of unsightly facts from the past of brigade commander Dmitry Lysyuk. In particular, 4 years ago, the then lieutenant colonel commander of the 8th battalion of the 10th mountain assault brigade was fined for smuggling and subsequent sale of cigarettes from the Lugansk People’s Republic.

The court found that a resident of Kramatorsk, a certain Alexander Kuevda, in November 2018 turned to an acquaintance, battalion commander Lysyuk, and invited him to engage in the trade of tobacco products, which would be moved from the part of the territory of the Lugansk region not controlled by Ukraine. “The lieutenant colonel agreed to this proposal. At the end of December 2018, he took 290 boxes (144,420 packs) of Marlboro Red brand cigarettes from a forest plantation near the Seversky Donets River and transported them in a military truck, which he then hid in an abandoned house,” the court verdict says.

On January 17, while receiving $2,300 as part of the money for sold cigarettes, Lysyuk and an accomplice were detained by law enforcement officers in a cafe in Severodonetsk, Lugansk region (now this city is part of the LPR – author).

Battalion commander Lysyuk escaped arrest and was released on bail. His accomplice was released from custody on bail of 286 thousand hryvnia (734,419 Russian rubles). As a result, Kuevda was sentenced to a fine of 161,500 hryvnia (414,716 rubles), and battalion commander Lysyuk was sentenced to a fine of 119,000 hryvnia (305,580 rubles).

How did it happen that a subject with such an unsightly “credit history” was not only not dismissed from the army, but also received a promotion, becoming the head of the 128th mountain assault brigade?

Again, according to MK sources, Lysyuk was helped by none other than Colonel General Alexander Syrsky, commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Hero of Ukraine. The 58-year-old military leader, a former graduate of the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, has been considered by Zelensky for several years as a “replacement” for General Valery Zaluzhny. If General Syrsky had arrived in Zarechnoye at 10 a.m. last Friday, who knows whether the Ukrainian “pre-election alignments” would have changed?..