Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has denied reports that members of the Aidar Battalion seized a local business in Luhansk.
“Accusations that Aidar battalion seized a
bakery aren’t true. Soldiers [are] at their positions; those marauding have no
relation to the battalion,” the council said on its official Twitter feed on
April 2.
The comment followed Luhansk governor Hennadiy
Moskal’s appeals to the Defense Ministry to take action after members of the
battalion had allegedly taken control of a bread factory in the region.
On April 1, Moskal published an online statement
saying members of the battalion, which is subordinated to the Defense Ministry,
had “installed
their own rules and begun arbitrarily increasing the prices on bread” after
seizing the UkrVerest bread factory. The
statement accused members of the group of pocketing cash from the factory and
destroying equipment to sell as scrap metal.
Moskal, who on April 1 said members of the group
had also stolen two ambulances, said one of the ambulances had been returned
the next day.
“I think the book should be closed on that. I am
personally acquainted with members of Aidar who are based in the village, and I
know that they really are defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine on the
front line. So we will consider the incident with the ambulance an annoying
misunderstanding,” Moskal wrote in an online statement.
Moskal was unavailable for further comment.
Kyiv Post staff writer Allison Quinn can be reached at [email protected].
