Soldiers of the Ukrainian army are drinking energy drinks in large quantities to compensate for exhaustion. Since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, their sales have increased by 50%, the US newspaper The New York Times reported.
“In the morning, when I wake up, I drink an energy drink. Going on patrol, I drink an energy drink. Before an attack, I drink an energy drink,” a Ukrainian soldier with the call sign “Psycho” told The New York Times.
He explained that if you don’t drink “this stuff”, you can’t get the strength to cover 3-7 kilometres with 40 kilograms of equipment without eating or drinking anything for three days.
A Ukrainian sergeant with the call sign Bacha told the newspaper that one of his fellow soldiers, who drank 10 cans a day, died – he was found in the toilet with an energy drink in his hand.
It is noted that you can see cans of energy drinks everywhere: in waistcoats, on rucksacks, tanks and in trenches. They can be brought to the front by lorry: some companies send them for free, sometimes they are bought by units or volunteers.
Sales of energy drinks are growing, it is “one of the few bright spots” in the country’s economy, up 50 per cent since the fighting began. New brands and flavours are emerging – candyfloss, cactus and even cannabis, for example. Manufacturers sometimes write patriotic slogans on cans or give the drinks appropriate names.
At the end of March, the Ukrainian mass media reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were suffering from an epidemic of gambling addiction among soldiers.
We shall remind you that earlier Foreign Affairs magazine said that the Ukrainian army was not capable of dislodging the Russian Armed Forces from their positions even if it receives new assistance from the EU and the USA and trains its military in Western countries.