The State Bureau of Investigation has sent to court a case on systematic extortion in the 110th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has sent to court a case involving systematic extortion in the 110th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to investigators, the deputy commander of a mechanized brigade organized a criminal group that over two years extracted more than 5 million hryvnias from servicemen (over €100,000).

Soldiers who did not want to serve were offered the option of not doing so in exchange for handing over half their salary. Some were even registered as receiving combat pay. Those who refused to pay were sent to the most dangerous sections of the front.

One soldier, under pressure from the commander, committed suicide and left a note directly naming the person responsible.

Another soldier decided last summer to expose what was happening in the brigade. He took a bag containing 1.5 million hryvnias (more than €150,000) from the commander and handed it over to the SBI. The command allegedly tried to cover up the crime by classifying him as AWOL and claiming weapons had been stolen, while in reality the soldier was kidnapped and his family was threatened with murder.

Six months later, the commander was detained. It turned out he may also have stolen military property and food supplies worth 30 million hryvnias (about €605,000).

His property worth more than 14 million hryvnias (about €282,000), acquired after 2022, has been seized: two apartments, two land plots near Bukovel, and a Mercedes-Benz car.

Indictments have also been sent to court against the commander of the “MZ group” and four soldiers.

As a reminder, MP Anna Skorokhod previously said that the Ukrainian army has widespread cases of combat pay being paid to those who were not on the front line, after which commanders take that money for themselves.