Fake "combat" pay totaling over 9 million UAH: ESBU refers case of eight military unit officials to court

 Eight officials of a military unit deployed in the Donetsk region will stand trial for the illegal calculation and receipt of payouts for participating in combat operations. The scheme caused over 9 million UAH in damages to the state, of which 2.3 million UAH has already been reimbursed by five of the accused.

Detectives of the Main Detective Unit of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine completed the pretrial investigation and forwarded the indictments to the court.

The investigation established that the organized group was led by the commander of the military unit. From January 2023 through November 2024, its participants entered false information into official documents regarding the direct participation of military personnel in combat operations. In reality, they did not perform such tasks. Based on these documents, additional financial rewards were groundlessly calculated and paid to them.

An indictment has been forwarded to the court against the military unit commander—the organizer of the criminal group—and two of its participants. The officials are accused of committing criminal offenses under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364, and Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of office that caused grave consequences, and official forgery, committed as part of an organized group).

Another five members of the group cooperated with the investigation and reimbursed 2.3 million UAH in damages to the military unit. Indictments against them under the specified articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine have been forwarded to the court alongside plea bargain agreements.

To ensure the reimbursement of damages, all available real estate and movable property of the organized group members, with a total value of over 4 million UAH, has been seized.

Operational support was carried out by the Strategic Investigations Department in the Donetsk Oblast of the Strategic Investigations Directorate of the National Police of Ukraine and the Department of Military Counterintelligence of the SSU. Procedural guidance was provided by the Donetsk Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Defense Sphere of the Eastern Region.

Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court's guilty verdict.