The Security Service of Ukraine has identified about 100 people who actively participated in the mass riots in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, Kyiv region, on November 2. According to the investigation, the action was planned in advance with the aim of extracting a serviceman who had previously left his military unit without permission.

This was announced on November 3 by Deputy Chairman of the SBU Ivan Rudnytskyi at a joint briefing with Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Vyhovskyi, reports Suspilne.

According to Rudnytskyi, law enforcement officers are conducting searches, establishing the role of each of the riot participants and deciding on detentions and notices of suspicion. However, identifying a participant in the events does not in itself prove his involvement in the crime.

The SBU has opened three criminal proceedings under articles on obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, dissemination of information about the location of the Defense Forces, and mass riots.

The Deputy Head of the SBU claims that the organizers prepared the action in advance, intending to use the situation with a National Guard serviceman to create public resonance.

Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Vyhovskyi said that one of the key participants in the events was a woman who presented herself as an employee of a private medical service and arrived at the building in an ambulance.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, she acted at the request of a relative of one of the servicemen who had the status of having left the unit without permission (SOCH). A few days before the riots, the woman sent a driver to the building to film it on video.

Vyhovskyi stated that the purpose of these actions was to organize the extraction of the serviceman and discredit the military. According to him, the woman had previously come to the attention of the police, including because of her public statements.

Law enforcement officers detained the woman who presented herself as a medic, as well as the driver of the ambulance. A notice of suspicion is being prepared against the woman. The final legal assessment of the actions of the detainees should be given by the investigation.

The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also reported that the building around which the riots occurred was leased by the National Guard on legal grounds.

According to law enforcement officials, among the servicemen there, two had SOCH status. The rest were to begin basic combined arms training on November 9.

Four servicemen who had previously been taken out of the building for medical assistance returned to the military unit.

However, the circumstances of some servicemen receiving injuries and bruises are still being clarified. Investigators are checking whether the injuries appeared before the men arrived at the building or directly during their stay there.

Recall that on November 2, messages spread on social networks about the alleged illegal detention of about 40 people in a private house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka. After that, local residents and relatives of servicemen gathered near the building.

The situation escalated into clashes with law enforcement officers. Riot participants tried to enter the territory and damaged official vehicles. Shots were heard at the scene.

The police denied the circulated claims about the death of a person and the illegal detention of dozens of hostages. At the same time, reports of possible violence against servicemen are subject to separate verification.

The State Bureau of Investigation on November 3 opened criminal proceedings under Part 5 of Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — about the excess of authority or official powers by a military official.

SBI investigators must establish the conditions of the servicemen's stay in the building, check reports of possible coercion, and give a legal assessment of the actions of all those involved.

Thus, law enforcement agencies are conducting several investigations: the SBU is identifying the organizers and participants of the mass riots, while the SBI separately checks the actions of the military and possible violations of the rights of people in the building.

Based on materials from: Suspilne News, Suspilne Kyiv, Babel.