The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has finalized a military inquiry into the events which occurred near Ilovaisk in August 2014 and will now prepare to send the case to court, First Deputy Prosecutor General Dmytro Storozhuk said.
Storozhuk met with families of servicemen killed in the Ilovaisk battle on Monday, the office press service said on Tuesday.
The meeting focused on outcomes of the inquiry into circumstances and causes of the Ilovaisk tragedy. “A unique forensic military inquiry, which lasted for almost one year and involved 31 top-notch experts and specialists, including those from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the Anti-Terrorism Center of the Ukrainian Security Service, the Ukrainian National Guard, and the State Border Service of Ukraine, has come to an end,” Storozhuk said.
“The inquiry makes it possible to prepare for sending the criminal case to court,” he said.
Volunteer battalions and units of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and the Armed Forces were encircled by hostiles near Ilovaisk in the Donetsk region in late August 2014; the troops suffered numerous fatalities and many Ukrainian servicemen were taken prisoner. The Verkhovna Rada set up an ad hoc investigative commission to look into details of the incident.
According to the preliminary commission report posted on October 20, 2014, the Ilovaisk tragedy resulted from erroneous appointments in security agencies, flawed actions of Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey and General Staff Chief Viktor Muzhenko the day before the tragedy, and the fact that the president failed to initiate martial law.
“Fundamental problems in organization of national defense are the root of the Ilovaisk tragedy,” the preliminary report said.
Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General – Main Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said with reference to results of the comprehensive inquiry that the events near Ilovaisk in the Donetsk region in August 2014 caused the deaths of 366 Ukrainian servicemen and injury of another 429. About 180 persons are listed as missing.
