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Feb. 24, 2026, 2:24 p.m.
Former Berkut member helped the enemy in the occupation of Kherson region
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Berkut officers in Kyiv, 2012. PHOTO: Reuters
The State Bureau of Investigation has served a notice of suspicion to Yuriy Usenko, a former member of the Crimean Berkut who defected to the enemy after the occupation of the peninsula.
This is stated on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
In 2014, Usenko served in the Sevastopol Berkut as a police officer of an assault platoon. According to the investigation, on February 20, during the Revolution of Dignity, he was directly involved in the shootings on Instytutska Street.
Being behind a concrete fence near the Ukraina Hotel, Usenko, along with other Berkut officers, fired at least six shots from rifles equipped with lead shotguns in the direction of the protesters. After that, the security forces moved toward the Khreshchatyk metro station, continuing to fire at unarmed people. Investigators emphasize that the shooting was deliberate, resulting in the deaths and injuries of many protesters.
Currently, Usenko is charged with illegal obstruction of rallies, abuse of power and attempted premeditated murder by prior conspiracy. In addition to the crimes committed a decade ago, journalists from Ukrainska Pravda found a Russian trace in the defendant's biography. In 2014, he received a Russian passport in Crimea, and with the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he actively toured the occupied territories. His phone number was recorded in Mariupol, Donetsk, Melitopol, Genichesk, and in March 2022 - directly in the Kherson region.
Despite his service to the occupation system, Usenko demonstrates dissatisfaction with the leadership of the Russian police on social media, and is interested in weapons and mixed martial arts.
Also, former members of the Kyiv Berkut, who participated in the shootings on Maidan in 2014, integrated into the security forces or the Russian army after fleeing to Russia. Their footprints have been detected in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine, particularly in the Kherson region.
The special police regiment first made its presence felt on November 30, 2013, during the dispersal of student protests on the Maidan. These special forces, along with the internal troops, were used by the Yanukovych regime. The commander of Kyiv's Berkut, Dmytro Sadovnyk, selected 26 fighters and sent them to the center of Kyiv, creating the famous "Black Company" that shot protesters on February 20, killing 48 people.
