‘They slipped in drugs’: police have exposed three soldiers who staged a provocation against Shyrshyn

As reported by Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine Maksym Tsutskiridze, the suspects turned out to be former law enforcement officers who are currently serving in one of the separate assault regiments.

According to the investigation, the suspects had been illegally surveilling the former commander of a battalion of one of the separate mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a long time and collecting confidential information about him.

It should be noted that the official statement does not mention the name of the former battalion commander; however, based on the details of the case, it is clearly about Oleksandr Shyrshyn. He had recently stated that drugs had been planted on him.

The perpetrators planned the provocation to discredit the serviceman and bring him to criminal liability using fabricated evidence.

On the night of August 27–28, 2026, the suspects broke into the victim’s car, parked near his house, and hid pre-packaged narcotic and psychotropic substances in zip-lock bags inside. Immediately afterward, they reported the presence of prohibited substances in the vehicle to the police and the Military Law Enforcement Service.

When the former battalion commander got into the car and drove off on business, the suspects continued to follow him and provide law enforcement with operational information about the vehicle’s movements. As a result, police officers in Kharkiv stopped the vehicle, and during the search they found the previously planted substances.

It is fundamentally important to me that no one has any doubts: the police will not conceal or cover up illegal actions by any individuals, regardless of their status or past,
– emphasized Maksym Tsutskiridze.

All three servicemen have now been notified of suspicion for illegal entry into a dwelling, violation of the inviolability of private life, drug trafficking, and incitement to bring a knowingly innocent person to liability. Prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General are preparing motions to impose pretrial detention on the suspects.