From pneumonia to suspicious deaths: The hidden dangers of military training in Ukraine

“That day a neighbor came to quarrel with him over a loose dog. She called the police on him. They arrived, took him and handed him over to the Synelnykove district territorial recruitment center. His [military] data had not been updated,” Olena said.

In early March, she contacted the police to find out where her brother was. A district officer determined that Vitaliy was in the Skelia Regiment. Olena called the regiment’s hotline, and they confirmed it.

When she asked what was happening with her brother, the person on the other end said they did not have that information. Soon afterward the district officer himself called and told Olena that her brother was listed as deceased in the databases:

“When I called the unit’s hotline again, they told me: ‘Yes, but I did not have the right to tell you that, because we were waiting for the examination to be completed.’”

The death certificate for Vitaliy now states that he died on February 28 and the cause of death was heart disease. Olena does not believe this and suspects her brother may have been beaten before he died. Nevertheless, the soldier was buried without a second examination.

Olena reached out to hromadske with complaints about the inaction of law enforcement. She said that over two months she had still not been questioned.

Why did Batura die?

In response to a hromadske inquiry, the 425th Skelia regiment said a special investigation was conducted into the circumstances of Vitaliy Batura’s death. A forensic medical examination determined that death resulted from acute cardiovascular insufficiency and Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is damage to the heart muscle caused by long-term excessive alcohol consumption. The heart gradually stretches, enlarges, and weakens, making it less effective at pumping blood.alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

“No violence was used against Vitaliy Batura. Law enforcement agencies were informed about the circumstances of Vitaliy Batura’s death. No requests for Vitaliy Batura’s personal belongings were received from relatives,” the response from Skelia stated.

In the death notification that Vitaliy Batura’s mother received on March 5 from the territorial recruitment center — the so-called funeral notice — the military unit indicated that the death was connected with military service but not with the defense of the Homeland.

In response to our question about where and how Batura died, they said he died in Karnukhivka, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. “During movement from the permanent place of deployment to a temporary one, the body of soldier Batura was found without signs of life.”

Olena was told at the military unit: “My brother was riding in a minibus when he felt ill. When the ambulance arrived, it pronounced him dead.” It appears Batura died even before he reached the training center.

From Karnukhivka, Vitaliy’s body was taken to Solone (Dnipro district), from where it was transferred to the Dnipropetrovsk morgue.

A criminal proceeding into Batura’s death was opened on March 1. hromadske sent a request to the Office of the Prosecutor General asking whether the investigation is ongoing and what its results are.

What if people got sick and died already during basic military training?

In March of this year, several service members of the Skelia regiment died during training from pneumonia. The regiment’s medical service representative, Yuriy Pidhirnyi, explained this by the “general epidemic situation in the country.” He said the incidence of pneumonia among soldiers in their unit “did not exceed the same indicators as among civilians.”

Meanwhile, the ombudsman’s office reported that as of April 2026, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights had received 58 appeals regarding the Skelia Regiment. They urged relatives of service members who suspect their loved ones may have died as a result of violence rather than combat actions to contact the Defense Ministry.

In May, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said a separate inspection had been sent to Skelia. He also said a closed meeting was initiated with the participation of the regiment’s leadership and the General Staff.

At the same time, pneumonia was not limited to Skelia. Service members from other units shared their experiences on Threads.

“2024. Spring. Every night, there is an [air raid] alert, and they drive us out of the barracks into the field. No matter what you lay down and how much — it is very cold from the ground. Result: half a company with a terrible cough and runny nose. Temperature 37.8°C — considered healthy. Need 38.5°C. Cough syrup and Pharmacytron — to hell with it. As a result, more than ten men with pneumonia, another dozen with bronchitis. All sent to the hospital,” Vladyslav Hodlevskyi wrote.

We analyzed that in Russian information-psychological operations, they promote the thesis that danger for a mobilized person begins not at the front but already during preparation. In other words, the claim is that the training center itself is a zone of mortal danger. In this logic, any death during training is presented as proof of “a system that kills.”

At the same time, this does not mean that problems at training centers are invented. On the contrary, it is the real cases, the lack of clear answers, and distrust of official explanations that make these topics vulnerable to manipulation.

The regiment’s command representative, Kostiantyn Rusanov, previously stated that at the initiative of the unit, medics from the Land Forces and specialists from the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Eastern Region conducted checks after the deaths of soldiers from pneumonia.

“There were no remarks regarding medical personnel, the quantity of medicines, or living conditions. Everything complied with current legislation,” Rusanov insisted.

There are not enough medicines for respiratory and infectious diseases (acute respiratory viral infections, bronchitis, etc.) for all service members, the head of the medical service of the 233rd training center, Olga Verchynska, told hromadske. They appealed to the Defense Ministry and the Medical Forces Command but received a response that medical stations at training centers are not treatment-and-prevention facilities and provide only primary medical care: acute conditions, injuries, and evacuation to hospital.

“The soldiers ran around, got wet, caught a cold, and their temperature is 38°C. We will not send him to a tent with 30 people so he infects everyone. We isolate them, provide conditions: warmth, cleanliness, warm drinks. And we provide what we can.

But our last request for medicines was on March 28. And unfortunately, we ran out of furacilin, nasal drops, and everything for the throat by April 15. There are many people, but we are not a priority for receiving large quantities of medicines. We are not a combat unit,” Olha said.

There is also a shortage of personnel. The medical service of the 233rd center is staffed at only 68 percent. The doctors are mostly mobilized reserve medical officers who have higher education and have once completed military departments. The medics are either those who transferred themselves after being wounded or those selected after basic military training because they were limitedly fit. After all, this is rear-area work.

“Many of our doctors and medics, after staying here three or four months, transfer through the Army+ app because of the heavy workload, little time they can spend with family at home, and small financial support. For example, a medic gets 21,500 hryvnias ($486). A doctor gets 23–25 thousand ($519-565),” Olha said.

Underexamined

From the end of January to early April, the Office of the Military Ombudsman received more than 130 complaints about medical issues from service members in training centers, including during basic combined-arms training.

Of these appeals, 45 percent concerned referral for military medical commission examination; 37 percent — referral for treatment; 14 percent — medical support.

It is worth noting that the mechanism for appealing to the military ombudsman works: service members who had grounds received referrals for treatment and military medical commission examination.

“At the same time, training centers are sometimes afraid to hospitalize service members because a significant number of unauthorized absences occur precisely from medical facilities. There was a case in which the Office of the Military Ombudsman intervened and demanded that the service member be hospitalized. He was eventually hospitalized, and then he ran away,” the office’s response stated.

The head of the medical service of the 233rd training center, Olha Verchynska, said that many mobilized soldiers learn about their illnesses for the first time only during basic military training: cardiovascular issues, problems with the musculoskeletal system, etc. In civilian life, they might not have had heavy physical loads and did not get examined, while during basic training, chronic problems sharply worsen. And for some, service becomes the place where a person can finally address health problems.

“They are all completely underexamined in civilian life. Here they undergo surgical interventions that would cost from 50 to 80 thousand hryvnias ($1,129-1,807) in civilian life. For example, chronic venous insufficiency of the lower extremities and hernias. They are interested in fully patching themselves up while they are training here,” Olha said.

If a mobilized soldier complains of an illness but does not have prior medical records, the medical service first treats him on an outpatient basis. If the condition does not improve, they order basic examinations. If the problem is not found, there are no grounds for hospitalization.

New conscripts often try to “play sick” to dodge the workload.. And here, Olha Verchynska said, doctors must distinguish whether the soldier is simulating or really has pain. If they see grounds, they order consultations with specialists and additional examinations: CT, MRI, X-ray, tests. And they accompany them to medical facilities.

But responsibility lies not only with the medics but also with the commander. If a commander ignores a subordinate’s health complaints or does not send him to the medical station, this can have consequences for him.

In March 2025 a court in Donetsk Oblast fined a squad commander because he did not send a soldier to the military unit’s medical station and did not take care of his health. Because of this the subordinate died. The death certificate listed the cause as Acute coronary syndrome is a condition in which the heart muscle suddenly lacks blood and oxygen due to a sudden deterioration in blood flow through the coronary arteries. Simply put, the heart begins to "suffocate" from a lack of oxygen.acute coronary insufficiency. The court imposed a fine of 17 thousand hryvnias ($384) on the commander for negligent attitude toward military service (Part 2 of Article 172-15 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses).

Can relatives receive compensation if a soldier died during basic military training?

The military medical commission determines whether the death or killing of a service member is connected with the defense of the Homeland or the performance of service duties. If a fighter died not on the battlefield, the commission determines the cause of death and whether it occurred due to circumstances connected with service.

In the event of the death of a service member while performing service duties, his family is paid more than 2.2 million hryvnias ($49,681) in 2026. This can be, for example, death during training, as a result of negligent handling of weapons or through the negligence of other people.

For example, in February 2024 an instructor of a training platoon at a training ground in Chernihiv Oblast, while intoxicated, quarreled with a service member and shot him. The victim died in the ambulance.

The accused did not admit guilt and claimed he mistook the victim for a saboteur. The court did not believe this version: witnesses saw the conflict in a lighted tent, and the victim was unarmed. The instructor was imprisoned for eight years. In such a case the family can receive 2.2 million hryvnias in compensation.

If a soldier suddenly dies from illness — for example, from a heart attack, stroke or thrombosis — such cases can also be considered connected with the defense of the Homeland or performance of service duties. The family will have the right to a payment of 2.271 million hryvnias ($51,284).

If the illness was not sudden (for example, cardiomyopathies) and was not connected with the performance of military service duties, the family will receive 1.5 million hryvnias ($33,874).

If a soldier died because of alcohol or drugs, or caused harm to himself or committed suicide, the family will receive nothing. An exception is possible if a court determines that the soldier was driven to suicide. In that case the family will be able to receive the minimum payment — 1.5 million hryvnias.