You're reading: Court releases 35 Ukrainian soldiers suspected of switching sides on their own recognizance

On August 4, Zhovtnevy District Court in Zaporizhia continued consideration of pre-trial restrictions for soldiers of the 51st mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who on June 25 during a combat in the frames of the anti-terrorist operation had entered the Russian territory for unknown reasons.

According to a reporter of Interfax-Ukraine, the court chose
pre-trial restrictions for twelve more servicemen. Thus, as
August 4, 35 soldiers were released on their own recognizance for the
duration of the investigation.

“The court didn’t find it necessary to restrict freedom of the
soldiers, thus as of tonight the issue of pre-trial restrictions has
been resolved for 35 of the 41 soldiers of the 51st mechanized brigade,”
the servicemen’s lawyers told the agency.

On August 5, the court will decide on pre-trial restrictions for six remaining soldiers.

As reported, on July 28, 41 troops of the 51st brigade were interned
from Russia and taken to Zaporizhia “to determine the reasons why they
entered the territory of a different state”.

Earlier, a number of Russian media reported that over 40 Ukrainian
servicemen left the ranks of Ukrainian army and sided with Russia.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ihor Kabanenko said that his
ministry was probing reports about a group of Ukrainian servicemen
crossing the border with Russia.

Earlier, the court released at least seven out of 41 servicemen on
their own recognizance for the time of the investigation. The military
prosecutor’s office of Zaporizhia region opened a criminal case under
Part 3 of Article 409 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (refusal to
perform military service under combat conditions) against these
servicemen and demanded that the court put the soldiers in custody for
the duration of the investigation.