The checked claim centers on a criminal investigation by Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation into the 425th Separate Assault Regiment, known as Skelia, alleging at least 26 noncombat deaths, physical abuse, and inadequate medical care for recruits. Two independent outlets and the original source article all converge on the same core facts, even though they are about three weeks old relative to the current date of 16 July 2026.
The Kyiv Independent reported on 24 June 2026 that the SBI had launched a pre-trial investigation into the 425th Separate Assault Regiment following an investigation published by the Ukrainian outlet Babel a day earlier. According to that report, at least 26 service members died between late 2025 and spring 2026, many shortly after mobilization and training, and the SBI said it was "verifying the allegations" and "examining whether military officials exceeded their authority and official powers under martial law, resulting in serious consequences." The unit, expanded under Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as part of a push to build specialized assault formations, has more than 10,000 personnel and is regularly assigned high-risk operations.
UNN, a Ukrainian news agency, corroborated the launch of the investigation on 25 June, reporting that the regiment's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yurii Harkavyi, had been suspended from his duties pending the probe. UNN also confirmed the 26 noncombat deaths figure among recruits and noted that the Ombudsman's Office monitoring group would visit the regiment to inspect possible rights violations. The two outlets are consistent on the date the investigation was announced, the legal basis (abuse of power under martial law), and the scale of the alleged deaths.
The original article checked here, published by Ukrainska Pravda on 16 July 2026, includes an editor's note that closely mirrors these facts, while also quoting then-Acting Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov as he summarized his tenure. Fedorov was notably defensive about the Skelia affair, saying one of the "11 major problems" was "constant dishonesty" and citing "claims that I ordered the investigation into Skelia, that I launched a media campaign" as examples. This does not contradict the claim, but it is a useful caveat: there is some public dispute or confusion about who initiated or pushed the investigation.
The weakest part of the claim is the specific phrase "inadequate medical care for recruits." The available reporting focuses on abuse of power, the 26 deaths, and the regiment's response that 18 of those 26 occurred in hospital or on the way there and were linked to pre-existing health conditions. The regiment's own statement implicitly acknowledges health-related problems, and the original Babel investigation cited "medical records, court documents, and forensic examinations" as part of its evidence, but the public-facing sources do not directly use the phrase "inadequate medical care." This is a minor wording point rather than a contradiction, since poor medical treatment is a plausible reading of the underlying allegations. The main substance of the claim is well supported by independent reporting, even if one specific sub-allegation is inferred rather than quoted verbatim.
