While performing the service for Poberezhniuk, the four service members received full salaries and combat payments and were officially listed in a working visit to Mykolaiv Oblast.On Dec. 16, Ukrainska Pravda reported that the unit's officers had beaten service members, extorted money from them, and even tied one soldier to a wooden cross as a punishment.In response to the media investigation, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi ordered an inspection and suspended Poberezhniuk. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also ordered an investigation into the alleged abuse, extortion, and humiliation of soldiers. The 211th Brigade, formed in August 2023, performs engineering work, builds defenses in the rear, and does not participate in direct combat.According to Ukrainska Pravda, the cases of abuse surfaced after the start of official checks in the spring of 2024.The outlet's sources named now-Captain Vladyslav Pastukh, Poborezhniuk's godson and the son of the unit's chief of staff, as one of the main perpetrators.