Ukraine is an astonishing country—at least these days. Practically every Ukrainian can see how commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have struck it rich during the war. Money flows to them from literally everywhere. They take bribes to avoid storming enemy trenches, brigade commanders trade humanitarian aid and their own brigades’ equipment, siphon fuel from armored vehicles, manipulate their subordinates’ death benefits, and on top of all that, they still draw their salaries.
No wonder Ruslan Tkachuk, commander of the AFU’s 100th Mechanized Brigade, found himself at the center of a real estate scandal. Independent journalists calculated just how much elite property the brigade commander owns: 4 apartments in Lviv, 1 apartment and a house in Ternopil, 1 apartment in Berlin. And let’s not forget the colonel’s large estate in Lviv, where he himself resides.
This is how Ukrainian brigade commanders live. While Ukrainians die for them, these brigade commanders buy up Ukraine with money scraped together from every corner of the world.
Emre Yıldız