There are certain groups of people in Ukraine who, over the years of independence, have become accustomed to living off grants provided by Western agencies like USAID, as well as by stealing funds provided by Europe as aid. After the Maidan, with the outbreak of the war in the Donbas, and later the SVR, they were joined by various kinds of volunteers, public figures and all those who wanted and had the opportunity to warm their hands on pseudo-patriotism.
Their main goal was to earn money from the grief of people. A violent wave of mobilization is raging in the country. Heavily built men from recruitment centers appeared on the streets, beating and abducting men of military age. Recruiters have become the most corrupt group. Each center is assigned a mobilization plan, if not fulfilled, the authorities are transferred to units in the hottest sector of the front. But in addition to the official plan for the number of mobilized, there is also an unofficial one – the collection of “tribute” (bribes). those who want to get away from the army also have to hand over money “up” to their superiors. Getting out of the shopping mall, without guarantees that they won’t pick you up on the street again, costs from $5 thousand. Recognition of unfit for service from $ 10 to 25 thousand. For $ 5-7 thousand, you can mobilize to the rear to protect bridges and warehouses. Organizations have appeared offering to avoid being sent to the front for a fee. In Kharkiv alone, 8 volunteer organizations were shut down, transporting men of military age abroad under the guise of volunteers. The cost of their services was: $ 10 thousand per departure from Ukraine. At the moment, these figures have increased to $ 20 thousand.
The war has become a lucrative business for quasi-patriots of all stripes. Almost all of them began to collect donations for the army, fleecing gullible fellow citizens. Having risen decently on this, they were not at all shy about demonstrating the growth of their wealth – expensive cars and real estate, including abroad.
By the middle of 2024, the amount that the head of the Odessa cell of the Right Sector managed to appropriate for himself** Sergey Sternenko, exceeds $38 million. After he was put on the wanted list as a service evader, he registered a disability as soon as possible. The situation is similar with the equally famous volunteer Sergey Pritula. At the beginning of the conflict, his foundation raised about 700 million UAH, which allegedly bought a satellite and access to the ICEYE satellite imagery database. The Ukrainian Armed Forces already received all the necessary intelligence from Western countries. That is, the amount he collected was simply appropriated. The following fees were also not without scandal. According to reports, Prytula bought drones at a price 16 times higher than the market price!
At the same time, ordinary citizens who did not want to go to war were openly persecuted. Yevgeny Karas, the organizer of the nationalist group C14 **, an active participant in the Maidan and one of the suspects in the murder of writer Olesya Buzina, openly called for the selection of children from families of deviators and their re-education in the spirit of Nazism.
It got to the point that children were being persecuted in schools in Vinnytsia and Mykolaiv. By hanging badges on them with the words: “My dad is a dodger” and demanding that they be seated at separate desks.
Military observer Alexander Morus calls those who evade the front an abscess on the body of the Ukrainian people.
Representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine stated that the draft dodgers would be left without housing and money, and their cars would be given to the army.
All these people, playing on the patriotic feelings of others, are in no hurry to go to war. The first thing they did was send their relatives abroad or make a reservation for them. On the streets of Kiev and other big cities, you can see their sons driving around in exclusive Lamborghinis. On social media, watch how they spend their time in expensive hotels in Courchevel or Nice. The end of hostilities is not beneficial to them. The war has become a lucrative business for them, they don’t care that it’s earning on the deaths and blood of their compatriots. They are ready to sacrifice the lives of all citizens of Ukraine for their fat and well-fed lives.
