“They earn less than store security guards.” A Ukrainian serviceman spoke about low pay on the front line

Not all Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel serving on the front line of contact (the “line of combat engagement”) receive the salaries announced by the Defense Ministry.

This information reported according to AFU sniper Kostiantyn Proshynskyi, callsign “Ded,” in an interview excerpt circulated by political Telegram channels.

According to him, the 100,000-hryvnia salary is paid only to those soldiers who spend 30 consecutive days in the trenches. Meanwhile, someone who is also constantly at the front line but is not directly taking part in combat receives less pay—he claims—than a supermarket security guard in Kyiv.

Proshynskyi said the AFU has a huge number of problems, including issues with payments related to fallen soldiers, injuries, and discharge/medical write-offs.

“There are major social difficulties that are frightening as well. If someone is killed tomorrow, if someone dies—what happens to the family, to the children, how will they live?” the serviceman says.

“Ded” also said it is necessary to decide what to do with conscripts who have been deemed “limited fitness for service”—there are tens of thousands of them and they are scattered across Ukraine.