You're reading: Ukrainian prosecutors accuse Defense Ministry officials of negligence causing injuries to 67 soldiers

At least 67 Ukrainian servicemen engaged in a military operation in the eastern part of Ukraine have been injured, including fatally, over the past two months because of low quality of bulletproof vests procured by the Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has reported.

A number of former high-ranking Defense Ministry officials were
responsible for purchasing two types of lightweight bulletproof vests,
i.e. Korsar 4 without a throat protector and Korsar M3-1-4 without a
throat and groin protector, it said.

“The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Central Research Institute of Weapons
and Military Hardware has concluded that the said individual protection
gear does not comply with the relevant tactical-technical requirements
for body armor,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Friday, Aug. 8.

While the said vests were commissioned, they had not been properly
tested for compliance with the existing national standards of individual
protection from firearms, cold steel, and grenade shrapnel. Live tests
carried out at the presidential secretariat’s order on July 4 and 11 did
not confirm the level of the declared tactical and technical
parameters, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

“All bulletproof vests were pierced through,” it said.

“As a result of these individual protection means’ noncompliance with
the said parameters, at least 67 servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed
Forces having no proper protection sustained injuries to their neck and
groin, including fatal ones, from May 31, 2014 to Aug. 1, 2014,” the
Prosecutor General’s Office said.

These findings have been filed with the unified register of pretrial
investigations as ones possibly indicating signs of a crime in actions
of Defense Ministry officials under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 425,
Part 2 (negligent attitude toward military service), which carries from
3 to 7 years’ imprisonment.