Former Berkut members of the “Black Company”, who shot at Maidan, took part in the occupation of Kherson region.
This was revealed by an investigation of “Ukrainska Pravda”.
The material indicates that former fighters of the special unit “Berkut”, suspected of killing 48 protesters on Instytutska Street in February 2014, are now fighting against Ukraine as part of the Russian occupation forces. Journalists discovered a group of defectors whose traces were recorded in southern Ukraine during the full-scale invasion.
Thanks to data on the activity of Russian SIM cards, it was possible to identify several former Berkut members in Kherson region during its capture and occupation.
Thus, former policeman of the engineering-technical platoon of “Berkut” Serhiy Devyaty is currently a sergeant in the Russian Armed Forces and the commander of a deep reconnaissance detachment of the 127th separate reconnaissance brigade of the GRU. Devyaty is part of the “Dnipro” military group, which conducted active combat operations in the Kherson region at least until 2025. His number was recorded in the Kherson area in May 2022.
Devyaty became part of the Russian army even before the start of the full-scale war. As journalists were able to determine, he had been receiving a salary from the Russian Black Sea Fleet since 2018. He holds the rank of sergeant.
Former Berkut explosives specialist Yevhen Taranukha, after fleeing, served in a Crimean unit of the Rosgvardiya. His presence in occupied Kherson was recorded in February, March and April 2022.
After the mass shootings on Instytutska he fled to Crimea and obtained Russian citizenship. Most likely, the former Berkut member collected his passport in Tyumen, 2,500 kilometers from Simferopol. In Simferopol the special forces member lived at least until the start of the full-scale invasion.
It is also likely that Taranukha integrated into the Russian law enforcement system and served in the main directorate of the Rosgvardiya for Crimea and Sevastopol, in the “Berkut” unit, which is now part of the Russian OMON. He held the rank of senior police sergeant.
With the start of the full-scale invasion, Taranukha also became interested in drones and even tried to attend drone operator training in 2024.
Another member of the special unit, Yuriy Usenko, in 2022 regularly shuttled between Crimea and the occupied south. His trips were recorded to Kherson, Melitopol and Henichesk.
Uspenko received a Russian passport in Crimea in 2014 and lives in the Krasnoperekopsk district. Besides online dating and mixed martial arts, he is also interested in weapons, in particular bullpup rifles.
It is known that Usenko worked in a taxi service at least from 2020 to 2022.
Also in March 2022, the phone of former special company fighter Ivan Makarets was active on the network in Kherson.
Makarets had several passports. He received the last one in Sevastopol in January 2019. He likely had money problems, took microloans from Russian companies, and tried to make money from betting.
The investigation also revealed an indirect link of former security officers to war crimes against civilians. Former Berkut member Ihor Vladyka, who previously worked in the security of Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin, at the beginning of 2026 became a driver for Olena Milska. Milska is the wife of the former head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and heads an organization accused of forcibly taking Ukrainian orphaned children from Kherson region to Russia.
“Black Company” is the unofficial name of the special company of Kyiv “Berkut” under the command of Dmytro Sadovnyk. According to the investigation, it was these fighters in masks and with yellow armbands on their sleeves who on 20 February 2014 used firearms against protest participants. Most of the identified fighters of the company are currently hiding in the Russian Federation, where they obtained citizenship and work in punitive agencies or the army.