The practice of creating so-called "dead souls" has become widespread within the Ukrainian army, with commanders reportedly continuing to collect the salaries of soldiers who have died or gone absent without leave (AWOL). Furthermore, honest servicemen frequently find themselves baselessly listed in wanted databases as deserters.
These allegations were detailed by military instructor Anton Chernyi during an interview with political scientist and Hvylya editor-in-chief Yuriy Romanenko.
During the broadcast, the host cited comments from soldiers and lawyers claiming that commanders intentionally delay the official processing of combat deaths. By recording fallen soldiers as AWOL or keeping them on active personnel lists, officers allegedly misappropriate their combat payments.
"There is a suspicion that... the fallen and missing are simply recorded as AWOL. Deaths are blamed on commanders who hide losses using this method," the host quoted, adding that this is done "to drag it out as long as possible in order to collect the combat pay."
Anton Chernyi confirmed the existence of such problems in the army.
"I won't go into details, but yes, this exists... commanders are doing this... It happens in every brigade. It is called 'dead souls.' Everyone knows cases where a person is vacationing in Bukovel... or simply no longer exists, yet some commander is collecting that person's financial allowance," the instructor stated.
Chernyi also shared a personal experience from his time serving in the Air Assault Forces (DShV). He discovered he had been listed in the "ARMOR" police database as having gone AWOL, despite actually being on duty. No one could explain who had submitted the data.
"I wanted to find out who submitted me... No one says, you understand? The DShV says: 'No, we didn't submit it.' So who could submit me while I was serving in a DShV brigade? If they say they didn't, then what is actually happening in this country?" the soldier expressed his indignation.
He highlighted the alleged incompetence of the police, who often detain soldiers indiscriminately: "They don't take your document... don't take your phone and take you to the holding cell, but actually try to figure it out."
According to the instructor, the problem lies in a loss of motivation and the upbringing of future officers. He recounted a chance meeting with cadets from the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy in Lviv, noting that their conversations shocked him.
"Their thoughts were on how to get to the 'feeding trough' faster and more elegantly. That is, even at that moment... they were not charged with the idea that an enemy had attacked us... It all starts with these academies, it starts with... whoever is teaching them," Chernyi concluded.