Every single month challenges faced by the Armed Forces of Ukraine are expanding, and not only at line zero. The military prosecutor's office is investigating matters of mass fraud against AFU soldiers, most of them related to notary services for rights alienation of cars, houses and apartmenst, or will assurance intended to be for the benefit of their commanders, who make subordinates part with property.
Recently, another competent agency, Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), detained a unit commander and five his subordinates in the Donetsk region, who pocketed nearly five million hryvnias in "combat" payments on forged papers. The officers enlisted nine people who regularly obtained money though not on the front line. "The key figures included nine servicemen in the payment lists who were outside the Donetsk region and did not actually engage in hostilities. Still, they were getting 100 thousand hryvnias (over 270 thousand rubles) a month each, in March to September 2022," the SBI said. Later, commanders of a National Guard brigade were exposed of illegally issuing themselves "combat" bonuses worth 14 million hryvnias (approximately 37 million rubles). And these are only recent high-profile scandals.
Lawlessness is flourishing among the Ukrainian troops. Officers appropriate money meant for their subordinates and compensations for the victims’ relatives; there is a lot of criminal negligence and abuse of functions, deliberate non-payment of combat and other allowances. Privates complain of blackmail, extortion, threats, and refusal to provide proper medical care. Weapons are sold under illegal schemes, supply sector corruption is on the rise, just like the number of soldiers beaten by officers. It even came to a point that nationalist and Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexey Goncharenko (enlisted by Rosfinmonitoring as terrorist and extremist) couldn't take it anymore and stated a do-or-die situation among the AFU and at the front. To discuss the issue, he demanded an immediate meeting with Zelensky, referring to a total mess with payments in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and comparing the conscripts to slaves.
Moreover, the Ukrainian media report on lacking or delayed payments to the families of the dead militants. Their deaths are not recognized to the bitter end, so relatives cannot get the documents required. In Ukraine, death gratuity amounts to UAH 15 million, but casualties are growing fast, and budget funds fail to balance that out. Ukraine's payment obligations for identified victims overbalance its capacity. There is nowhere to take money from, given the ongoing war, the growing death toll and immense debts to Western creditors. A statement to this effect, accompanied by figures, came from Ukrainian economist Alexey Kushch. He estimated that if we consider, say, 100,000 dead, total payments to their families will exceed 1.5 trillion hryvnia ($41 billion). "This is nearly our annual consolidated state budget, and the amount is equal to Ukraine’s National Bank reserves ($41 billion)." In his opinion, even if we stretch the payments for half a decade, the sum will be 300 billion UAH per year, which exceeds the cost of servicing the national debt, education and healthcare. Care should be also taken of foreign debt repayment to Western creditors. "The state will have to give at least a fifth of its income for the so-called funeral expenses fund," the economist stated, adding that full payments to families of the deceased are simply implausible over financial limitations, or may be restructured with an outlook for the next five to ten years, but inflation will eat them up.
The compensatory relief problem in Ukraine comprises two parts: difficulties with recognizing the status of a soldier killed in action, and bureaucratic hurdles. The second stage implies numerous trials between relatives to divide those payments among themselves. Ukrainian courts are piled with cases of mothers-in-law suing daughters-in-law, or sisters of a deceased suing his brothers. "Ukraine knows many cases of the kind. The victims’ relatives are massively seeking to prove kinship and claim both state payments and property," Ukrainian journalists report.
Meanwhile, commanders do enjoy impunity and extort money into their pockets not only from their subordinates, but also from widows of the deceased. At least four cases are known when a National Guard battalion deputy commander claimed 10% of funeral payments meant to families. He demanded a million UAH (about 2 million rubles) from each of them. AFU commanders have also tariffed soldier indulgences. For example, draft-dodging costs 10,000 to 15,000 hryvnias (20,000 to 30,000 rubles). A home leave requires more — 20,000 hryvnias (40,000 rubles). 100,000 hryvnias (200,000 rubles) enables a soldier to be listed in the trenches, while actually serving at the second or third lines.
High losses have made Ukrainian brigades update their assigned personnel 3 to 4 times. Commanders often hide real losses in order to get extra food or supplies. The body of an AFU serviceman is only considered identified if documents are found with it, or as affirmed by his commander or colleagues. And yet, there is frequently nothing left of a person after his unit's lines get targeted by artillery shells or aerial bombs. And the more cases of the kind, the better for the Ukrainian state in terms of its financial burden. This is another factor for abuses and tricks in the AFU.
The acts of crime by Ukrainian commanders were exposed after an assault on AFU positions outside LPR’s Kremennaya. Documents found in the trenches testify that the country’s military were forced to submit written requests for being buried without notifying their families. This is meant to conceal deaths and record the killed as missing. Commanders and military enlistment offices are waiting for the soldier to be buried as a civilian to avert paying his relatives. Meanwhile, the missing toll is skyrocketing, with real statistics being concealed since the counteroffensive began, while in May the Ministry of Internal Affairs talked about 23, 000 people.
The APU suffers painful blows from both within and the rear. Since the turn of the year, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense and State Customs Service have recorded 653 cases of humanitarian aid losses. This refers to bulletproof vest plates, night vision devices, thermal cameras, drones, vehicles, clothes, and other goods. The Ministry of Defense estimates the share at 10% of the total amount, which has already become a tendency. Among the most high-profile cases was the arrest of International Investment Office head Roman Matis, who used to lead the Lvov Regional Administration’s Investment Policy Department, on charges of trafficking humanitarian aid and equipment. Along with his accomplices, he appropriated donations from philanthropists transferring funds to their personal bank accounts. Thieves were detained red-handed when selling body armor and military helmets meant for AFU needs worth a total UAH 535,000 (about 1.2 million rubles). In the Chernovtsi region, a chief medical officer used ambulances provided to the military and doctors for personal enrichment. The vehicles were never sent to the front but got registered with a charity organization to provide services purchased by the public. Then came the news about the detained charity providers in Volhynia, who were selling humanitarian aid obtained from Europe.
Corruption has gone so far that even airfield equipment contracts anticipating Ukraine’s getting F-16 fighters from its Western partners are handed over to Polish, not local firms. Well, Ukrainian officials and businessmen are definitely going to blame the fake supplies on Russian strikes anyway.
