Defense Ministry discovers abuse of additional payments to military for UAH 123 million

The Ministry of Defense discovered the abuse of additional payments to the military for UAH 123 million. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The Internal Audit Service of the Ministry of Defense selectively audited approximately 40 military units and established that more than UAH 123 million of additional compensation was paid to people who did not participate in hostilities and did not perform any combat tasks," the message reads.

Audits revealed that the commanders of some military units interpreted terms such as "combat operations" and "combat (special) task" too loosely and paid additional remuneration at their discretion.

"It is unfair when those who are not under direct fire or do not support those who are under direct fire receive additional payment for combatants. We detect manipulations and close loopholes for abuses," said Deputy Defense Minister Yurii Dzhyhyr.

Thus, a monthly supplement of UAH 100,000 was paid to the servicemen of the pontoon-bridge company, who performed tasks in the Kyiv Region already a few months after the retreat of the russians, the total amount of payments for the period from September to December 2022 amounted to UAH 6.5 million, although the Kyiv Region was no longer included in the list of areas of hostilities.

The commander of another military unit issued an order to pay additional remuneration to servicemen who were at the point of permanent deployment in Kyiv and performed daily tasks in their positions. In this way, the legal service, the personnel department, the military unit, the planning, logistics, morale and psychological support department, as well as military personnel of the financial and economic service, the state secret service and other "subordinate personnel" received additional payments. These units are not expected to perform combat tasks. As a result, the Internal Audit Service established the excessive use of almost UAH 60 million from the budget.

It is noted that the Ministry of Defense is consulting with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order to restore justice: additional compensation should be paid only to those who perform combat tasks and participate in hostilities.

The Ministry of Defense proposes to clearly and unambiguously define the terms "participation in combat operations" and "combat (special) task", since the blurring of these concepts allows paying a UAH 30,000 bonus to those who do not perform any combat tasks (for example, accountants, personnel department), in particular, outside the combat zone.

At the same time, it is noted that it is important to take into account the right to additional payments for all servicemen who perform tasks in areas without active hostilities (for example, as part of air defense groups).

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in June, the Verkhovna Rada, after a long discussion, adopted the law on additional payments to the military, which, in particular, stipulates that military personnel will be paid additional remuneration in the amount from UAH 30,000 to UAH 100,000 per month.

Since September, the Ministry of Defense has increased the list of servicemen who receive additional remuneration.

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