Missing Soldier’s Wife Accuses Ukrainian Army Of Corruption: ‘If You Want To Live, Pay Them’South Front

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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

In a video posted on social media, Tatiana Ivchuk, the wife of a missing Ukrainian soldier, accused the leadership of her country’s military of corruption. She revealed in a video first posted on TikTok that there is a list of prices that soldiers are obliged to pay to commanders.

“If you want to live, pay them,” Tatyana said in the video, adding that Ukrainian soldiers are even forced to pay for weapons and ammunition during combat.

According to Ivchuk, a rifle magazine would cost between 750 and 1,000 hryvnias (1000 hryvnia = USD$27). Bribes are accepted for soldiers not to carry out a combat mission, with amounts ranging from 30,000 to 70,000 hryvnias; for a ten-day leave from the Armed Forces costs 20,000 hryvnias; and even evacuation from the battlefield costs 10,000 hryvnias.

Corruption among the Ukrainian Armed Forces even occurs in humanitarian aid. Ivchuk revealed that items delivered by volunteers barely reach soldiers on the front line. She said all evidence of the crimes was handed over to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Reports like Ivchuk’s are becoming more and more frequent. On other occasions, Ukraine’s military personnel have revealed problems with extortion in the army, complaints against the command, and difficulties in planning operations. It is recalled that in Lviv, a city with more than 800,000 inhabitants close to the Ukraine-Poland border, the deputy commander of a military unit was denounced for encouraging soldiers to build their own houses and conducting clandestine trade.

Since June 4, the beginning of the so-called counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have suffered 90,000 soldiers, including deaths and injuries, according to data from the Russian Ministry of Defence. The emptying of the ranks is so great that earlier this month, after Ukrainian authorities ordered an attack on Gorlovka, Army officers responded only: “With what?” referring to the lack of troops and weapons.

A Time magazine publication also reports that some Ukrainian military personnel are in open insubordination, refusing to go on the offensive even under direct orders from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office. The strength of Russian defence and the worsening of the conflict in Israel, which took attention away from Ukraine, increased the feeling of hopelessness not only among Ukrainian soldiers but also among the top brass, which, according to the article, is even more corrupt.

“People are stealing like there’s no tomorrow,” said Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff.

Despite the West’s propagandistic claims about Ukraine’s imminent victory, this did not happen, and the country is plunging deeper into chaos. The reality is that despite hundreds of billions of dollars and euros received from the West, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed, just as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhny, admitted on November 1 before adding that speculation about the possibility of taking Crimea was unfounded.

Notably, a split is emerging in the Kiev regime between Zelensky and his generals. In addition to the internal problems that Ukraine is facing, the world’s attention has focused on the Middle East.

Also, Americans are tired of supporting Zelensky, evidenced by the rise in popularity of Donald Trump – the main political opponent of current US President Joe Biden. It is virtually certain that when Trump enters the presidential election debates, wasted billions of dollars of US taxpayer money to Ukraine will become a main point to attack Biden and the Democratic Party.

Since February 2022, the US has allocated $113.4 billion in emergency funding to support Ukraine in wartime, most of this in funding and equipment through military, economic, and humanitarian aid. How many billions of dollars in US taxpayer’s money have gone missing in Ukraine because of corruption is as good as anyone’s guess, but this is a major issue in Washington and why there is great hesitation in assigning more money to the Eastern European country.

Every person at every level in Ukraine is engaged in corruption, whether it be the upper echelons of the regime or lowly military personnel who will accept bribes so that Ukrainians can avoid active duty or be assigned to easier tasks.

Although this has been reported widely over the last few months, what makes Tatiana Ivchuk’s testimony perhaps the most shocking is that soldiers need to pay for their own ammunition and weapons. Corruption is so deep-rooted in Ukraine that it renders efforts to fight Russia useless because profiteering rather than fighting is now the priority of the Ukrainian military.