After the disclosure of the story about the abduction and murder of Moseichuk brothers, Stanislav Luchanov, the commander of the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade with the call sign “Orel” [Eagle], has become one of the most talked-about military figures in Ukraine. At the same time, surprisingly little is still known about the man who commanded the brigade A brigade is a tactical military unit, capable of independent combat actions, which consists of 3,000-5,000 servicemen, and, in the investigators’ opinion, organized cruel murder.
NGL.media made an attempt to reconstruct his life story from his youth to the events, after which the name of Stanislav Luchanov made news headlines.
A farmer and a volunteer
Stanislav Luchanov was born in 1980 in a little village of Andriivka on the border of the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions According to the data of DeepState, now this village is very close to the “grey zone” at the active frontline. Luchanov’s parents died when he was a little over thirty.
Generally, there is very little information about his early days. It is known that in 2003, he graduated from the Kharkiv Military University, then he served in the 93rd Mechanized Brigade. He left the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) rather quickly, so he faced the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014 as a civilian.
By that time, he already had a son from his first marriage, and soon got married again. Luchanov settled in a village of Orlivshchyna in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and soon had a daughter in his second marriage.
“Here he was dealing either with kitchen garden, or construction… He used to be a volunteer,” Volodymyr Ladnyi, his former fellow villager, recalls.
Stanislav Luchanov, the brigade commander, against the background of the official emblem of the 155th SMB with the motto “Fortitudo. Honor. Victoria”, which is translated from Latin as “Fortitude. Honour. Victory” (the photo by the 155th SMB)
Judging by the posts on social media, Stanislav Luchanov worked the land indeed: he planted cabbage, ploughed land plots on request. At the same time, he brought vehicles from Europe and was an active supporter of the movement for zero excise tax on used cars So called Europlates supporters were most active in 2017-2018, most protests were coordinated by Avto Evro Syla [Auto Euro Power] organization, in 2021, he was registered as a sole entrepreneur trading vehicle spareparts.
After the annexation of the Crimea and the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in Donbas, Stanislav Luchanov began actively volunteering to help his former brigade. In December 2014, he even took part in a press conference on a local TV channel in Dnipro, where he told about the supplies of humanitarian aid to the ATO zone. One of the former servicemen of the 93rd brigade confirmed for NGL.media that Luchanov really actively helped fighters.
In February 2016, Luchanov wrote on Facebook, that he had been stripped of his clothes and beaten by the SSU operatives at one checkpoint. Later he posted a TV footage the full footage hasn’t been preserved, only one part is available, posted by its author, Inna Lysak about this case and signed it emotionally, “Friends, we are helping to spread the word so that corrupt officials in uniform, who are paid from our pockets and still mistreat us, can be punished.”
Later, Stanislav Luchanov stepped aside from active volunteering and, until 2022, had a quiet family life in the village, working in the kitchen garden and helping local residents. That’s when he started taking on debts which he kept hidden from his family. Eventually, it backfired on him.
In the uniform again
When the full-scale Russian invasion started, Stanislav Luchanov didn’t return to the AFU at once, although he was a reserve officer. At first, he resumed his volunteering and started evacuating civilians, including the ones from Kharkiv, where he had studied and had some friends.
NGL.media managed to find out that in 2023, Stanislav Luchanov and his second wife, Olena, got conscripted to the newly formed 23rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, where he got a call sign “Orel”. At that time, the brigade took part in combat actions in the Zaporizhzhia front sector, and later – in the Donetsk front sector.
Yet, the couple soon got divorced and Luchanov was transferred to another unit. The reason for the divorce was his alcohol misuse and unexpected debts. His former father-in-law told NGL.media that Luchanov had had problems with alcohol before, but it got worse after coming back to the army. Even after the divorce, he threatened his former wife several times.
It also turned out that Stanislav Luchanov borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from his acquaintances, which he couldn’t pay back. His creditors actively demanded the money both from Luchanov and his wife.
It is unknown whether Luchanov has paid all his debts yet. In his last year’s declaration, which is at the disposal of NGL.media Luchanov’s declaration is hidden in the state register at his personal request. Previously, NGL.media carried out a detailed investigation of this practice among declarants, it is stated that he kept USD 15 thousand in cash, and earned UAH 1.71 mln a year as the head of the headquarters of the 425th Separate Assault Regiment “Skelia”.
After the divorce, Stanislav Luchanov served in the 425th Separate Rifle Battalion, and then commanded the 210th Separate Battalion of Territorial Defence This battalion belonged to the 120th Brigade of the Territorial Defence; in 2026, it was reorganized into the 210th Battalion of Unmanned Systems, and it was subordinate to the 425th Assault Regiment “Skelia”.
His next position in the military hierarchy was the position of the head of the headquarters of the 425th Separate Assault Regiment “Skelia” The regiment “Skelia” is directly subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, so unofficially, “Skelia” is called “Syrskyi’s regiment”, which was held by Luchanov till February 2026 inclusive. It is noteworthy that this was the very period of several dozens of suspicious deaths in “Skelia”, disclosed in a high-profile investigation by “Babel” Journalists found out that from the end of 2025 till spring 2026, at least 32 conscripted persons died in “Skelia”. Most of them spent less than a month in “Skelia”, and pneumonia was usually stated as the official reason of death. The investigation on suspicion of violence towards servicemen is carried out by the SBI.
This February, Stanislav Luchanov was appointed the commander of the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Anne of Kyiv This brigade was created in May 2024 and underwent training in France and Poland. At the end of 2024, there was news about massive cases of desertion. His career was on a sharp rise – in 2024-2026, he was awarded the Orders of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi of all three degrees. The Order of the highest, first, degree was awarded to him this May, when he was a lieutenant colonel.
Valerii Kurach, the commander of the 21st Army Corps, (on the right), is presenting Stanislav Luchanov with the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi of the 1st degree (a photo by the 155th SMB)
May was the month of the first public scandal involving Luchanov – Serhii Malenko, a soldier of the 155th SMB, was cruelly beaten during the forming-up time in the territory of the military unit in Dnipro. Social networks started accusing Luchanov of involvement in this beating, but the commanders of the Ground Forces of the AFU refuted these rumours.
“Being a brigade commander, I strongly condemn the beating. It has nothing to do with military discipline, leadership, or combat camaraderie promoted in our brigade,” Stanislav Luchanov commented on this incident at the time. “I insist: the brigade units will not tolerate violence, torture or any manifestations of humiliation of human dignity. Every serviceman should be protected both from the enemy and any injustice inside the collective body. This is my principal position as a commander.”
Horror in the Kyiv region
On the night of June 27-28, in a small village of Kalynivka, about 100 km from Kyiv, unknown men abducted 36-year-old Maksym and 35-year-old Roman Moseichuk The father of brothers, Serhii Moseichuk, was killed in the war in July 2023. Maksym served in the National Guard, but after his father’s death he left the service. At first, their relatives tried to find them on their own, and only on July 3, they officially went to the police. On July 9, the bodies of brothers with numerous gunshot wounds were found buried in the forest strip in the Poltava region.
It was later found that the soldiers of the 155th SMB were involved in the abduction of the Moseichuks, acting, as investigators believe, pursuant to the order of Stanislav Luchanov, the brigade commander. According to the police’s version, one of the brothers hurled profanities at Luchanov’s wife, and when the brigade commander started demanding that the brothers should apologize, they refused rudely. Then, as the police believe, Luchanov decided to take revenge on them using the servicemen, subordinate to him.
The police have already detained nine servicemen of the 155th SMB on suspicion of murder of the Moseichuks Ruslan Dmytruk, Andrii Zaets, Oleksandr Pertsul, Viacheslav Artamonov, Bohdan Shurko, Maksym Mykytenko, Roman Kozak, Serhii Kolomiets, and Oleksii Dolholenko, one of them showed where the bodies were hiddenthey managed to trace the movements of abductors using video surveillance cameras. After the disclosure of the information about the abduction and murder, Stanislav Luchanov vanished from the military regiment. He was found and detained only on July 13 in Kyiv. According to mass media, he and his wife were going to the lawyer by car. The brigade commander was given an official notice of suspicion of plotting illegal deprivation of liberty and intentional murder of two people, he faces from 15 years of imprisonment to a life sentence.
Stanislav Luchanov in a courtroom. On July 14, the Rokytnianskyi district court remanded him in custody without the possibility of bail (a photo by NV)
Alternative version
Judging by the materials, published in the court register, law enforcement bodies consider another version of events which says that the servicemen of the 155th SMB got an order to track down deserters, among whom the Moseichuk brothers were allegedly included. The servicemen came to Kalynivka on June 25, but spent at least two more days looking for the brothers. The brothers were abducted from their own yard on the night of June 28, after one brother was shot in the leg.
According to the investigators’ version, the abductors didn’t even check that the Moseichuk brothers couldn’t go absent without leave and, violating the protocol in force, The servicemen who went absent without leave and were detained are transferred to the police and the military law enforcement service (MLES) they took them to the firing ground in the Poltava region at their own will.
In the words of Kalynivka residents, the servicemen were looking for the Moseichuk brothers using a list of about 10 surnames, including one minor. Serhii Moseichuk, the third brother, was on that list as well. He told Hromadske that he doesn’t understand why they were looking for him at all, especially in Kalynivka, because he has been living in the neighbouring town of Rokytne for the last three years.
A father of many children
Stanislav Luchanov lived in Kalynivka together with his third wife, Daryna Przhehornytska, whom he married in 2023. In the words of their neighbours, they didn’t lead a poor life, had several expensive cars and a quadricycle, and often had conflicts with the local residents.
Luchanov has two children in his third marriage, so taking into account his children from previous marriages, he can be considered a father of many children.
NGL.media didn’t succeed in getting in touch with Daryna Przhehornytska. Luchanov’s 23-year-old son from the first marriage told NGL.media that he hadn’t communicated with his father for the last three years and doesn’t know his new wife.
One of Stanislav Luchanov’s sisters whom NGL.media contacted on the phone says that she seldom saw her brother but she doesn’t believe the accusations against him, “There may be a bit of [truth] but not to this extent.”
Who is the killer?
During the court hearing on July 14, it became known that Oleksii Dolholenko, the battalion commander of the 155th SMB, is directly suspected of the murder of the Moseichuk brothers. According to the prosecutor, it was he who shot the brothers with an AKS-74U assault rifle ten gunshot wounds were found in the head of one brother, five – in the other brother’s head pursuant to the order of Stanislav Luchanov, the brigade commander. After the murder, Dolholenko buried the bodies in the territory of the firing ground.
Viktoria Eismunt and Kateryna Rodak with the involvement of Oleksandra Hubytska, editor Oleh Onysko, translation Nelya Plakhota, cover Viktoria Demchuk
