You're reading: Murder casts spotlight on wartime trauma, veteran care

It began as a minor conflict between passengers at a bus station in Kyiv. But it ended tragically with one man dead and a distinguished military officer doomed to spend nearly a decade in a prison cell.

On Sept. 19, the Desnyansky District Court in Ukraine’s capital sentenced Dmytro Balabukha, a junior lieutenant with the Ukrainian Army’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade, to nine years in prison for the intentional homicide of Ruslan Yurchenko, a restaurant chef from Odesa.

The court also stripped Balabukha of his military rank and imposed monetary penalties. Balabukha must pay nearly Hr 81,300 ($2,900) for his victim’s burial, a total of Hr 550,000 ($19,600) to his family, and nearly Hr 60,900 ($2,170) to recoup trial expenses.

Additionally, he will have to pay Hr 1,300 ($46) to each of Yurchenko’s two infant children monthly until they reach the age of 18.

Balabukha never denied his guilt, but the case has still sparked controversy. Supporters of the veteran argue that the ruling failed to take into account his military service and injuries. More broadly, the story has once again raised the issue of post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and the rehabilitation of veterans in Ukraine.

Free bus ride

The deadly incident occurred on Feb. 10 at approximately 12.30 p.m. local time, when Balabukha and Yurchenko clashed while standing in line for a public shuttle bus near the Chernihivska subway station in the eastern part of Kyiv.

According to one account, Balabukha, who was spending his leave in the capital city, tried to enter the vehicle out of turn, provoking an angry reaction from Yurchenko.

However, according to another version, the conflict erupted when the shuttle’s driver declined to allow Balabukha a free ride, to which he is entitled due to his combat veteran status. Yurchenko reportedly intervened in support of the driver.

After a minor skirmish with Yurchenko, the military officer left the bus station, only to buy a cheap knife at a shop nearby.

Just minutes later, he found Yurchenko and stabbed him to death, hitting his heart with one straight blow through the victim’s back. Yurchenko’s wife Yana witnessed the murder.

His last words were: “Yana, it’s over. Call the ambulance.”

Police arrested Balabukha a few blocks away from the crime scene. Initial medical tests detected traces of alcohol in his blood — Balabukha drank a small amount of beer shortly before the incident — but did not suggest alcohol played a meaningful role in the murder.

Shock and anger

Yurchenko was buried on Feb. 14, on his 36th birthday. In Facebook posts, his friends described him as a dedicated family man, a great fan of his profession, and an amateur boxer.

But the murder also shook the million-strong community of Ukrainians connected, in one way or another, to their country’s war effort in Donbas. Balabukha’s comrades-in-arms were particularly shocked.

Dmytro Balabukha (L) and Ruslan Yurchenko (R) (Courtsey)

Born in 1990, Balabukha was a highly-respected tank platoon commander of the 72nd Brigade who, at the time of the murder, had just returned from the front line. He had been at war since winter 2015 and spent most of his deployments at front-line hotspots north of Mariupol.

Olena Mokrenchuk, a former press officer with the 72nd Brigade, stresses that nothing justifies Yurchenko’s murder. However, she believes the deadly incident was caused by the driver’s refusal to allow Balabukha his rightful free ride. The military officer was also insulted and pushed out of the vehicle, she added.

“People should remember that soldiers get back from war and want [to experience] a decent attitude toward themselves. Meanwhile, constant grievances accumulate,” Mokrenchuk told the Censor.NET media outlet.

“At war, they are heroes. Here (in the rear), they hear: ‘I didn’t send you there.”

The murder has, once again, redirected public attention to PTSD, the everlasting curse of modern wars. Despite nearly 346,000 Ukrainians having veteran status, the Ukrainian government still fails to create an effective national veteran care and rehabilitation system.

While a brand new Ministry for Veterans Affairs is expected to launch in 2019, psychological and social support for demobilized combat veterans in the country still largely comes from civilian charities and veteran-owned businesses.

Because of this, PTSD among Ukrainian combat veterans is often left untreated, resulting in high suicide rates — between 500 and 1000 suicides since 2014, according to various approximate estimates — and also in violent crimes committed by former soldiers.

“This is the aftermath of a war to which the state is turning a blind eye,” said Anatoliy Matios, Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor, while commenting on Balabukha’s crime on Feb. 11.

Many believe that a sudden burst of rage, likely due to untreated PTSD trauma, is partially to blame for leaving one man dead and a revered combat officer behind bars.

Moreover, according to his lawyer, Denys Polushenko, Balabukha had other wounds. He had sustained a heavy craniocerebral injury during the battle for the stronghold city of Avdiivka and had a metal plate in his head.

Balabukha never completely recovered from the injury, and occasionally would lose consciousness, Polushenko said.

“Just to let him fall asleep, all clocks in the apartment were stopped,” the National Center for Advocacy said of Balabukha in a Sept. 19 Facebook post.

Nonetheless, the official military medical examination found him sane and concluded that his health condition was not an extenuating factor. And the court then handed down a verdict of nine years in prison.

But the ruling triggered a burst of anger from Balabukha’s supporters in the courtroom. They were particularly outraged by the fact that the court had stripped Balabukha of his military rank. Several people, who presented themselves as his brothers-in-arms, hurled angry words at the prosecutors.

The National Center for Advocacy subsequently announced that Balabukha’s defense would appeal the sentence.