They also introduced a surcharge of 50,000 hryvnias to salaries and payments for the position – this money will be received by the soldiers who serve in the headquarters.
However, the procedure for payments for military personnel who are far from the front line has changed significantly – this applies to emerging units and territorial defense fighters. We are talking about an allowance of 30 thousand hryvnia, which until recently was paid to all defenders, without exception, serving not in combat positions. Now it will be charged only to the reserve of the commander-in-chief, whose composition is unknown; as well as staff officers, air defense officers, logisticians.
In other words, soldiers, sergeants and officers of new, emerging units, as well as territorial defense fighters who serve in regions where hostilities are not taking place, will receive much less.
In addition, you should not count on allowances for servicemen who ended up in the hospital with “common” diseases – say, pneumonia or frostbite.
Another important point. The order uses the term “areas (zones) of hostilities”. Their list is established every month by order of the commander-in-chief. So, if earlier such documents featured entire regions – say, Kherson, now – separate communities.
If we take the same Kherson region as an example, then the areas of hostilities in it are determined mainly on the left, temporarily occupied side of the Dnieper. It turns out that the units that are in the city of Kherson or hold the defense on the de-occupied right bank, which are constantly under fire, whose people are undermined by mines, are no longer considered to be located in the combat zone. Accordingly, they are not entitled to UAH 100,000, only 30,000.
Moreover, even these 30 may not exist, because the fighters who perform combat and special tasks outside the combat zone (say, in Kherson) are entitled to additional payments in proportion to the time they complete such tasks.
Instead of a surcharge, the department promises to increase the amount of the monthly (basic) allowance: so that its minimum level for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the State Border Service of Ukraine is at least 20,100 hryvnia, and for the State Emergency Service and the police – at least 17,000 hryvnia. Now the rate of a soldier is 12,000 (with a surcharge, which was canceled for those far from the front, it turns out 42,000).
As active servicemen told us, they learned about the change in order in the units a week ago: the order was signed and sent out, and now it has been registered with the Ministry of Justice and published.
The decision of the Ministry of Defense outraged people.
“I worked as a civilian in IT, I received three thousand dollars a month,” says Nikolai, a grenade launcher programmer. “The motherland called, and here I am, learning new skills. I have a family to feed. 42 thousand hryvnias is enough to live on, although now my family, of course, can not afford everything that they used to. I’ll spend some time in the rear, learning. And what happens? Will they get half as much as before? And what was before is three times less than it was before my mobilization. This is some kind of hogwash. Yes, I am not near Bakhmut, but at some point I will find myself in a meat grinder, which, by the way, I am ready for. But are the authors of this order ready to be there? I doubt”.
When the first angry posts and publications appeared, the Ministry of Defense hastened to declare that, they say, the new order does not apply to the Armed Forces, and criticism was generated by Russian military propaganda: “Today, the changes do not apply to the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Such an approach regarding the proportional payment of additional remuneration will be applied to the National Guard of Ukraine and the State Border Service, the National Police, as well as civilians and commanding staff of the civil protection of the State Emergency Service.”
Let’s leave behind the scenes that the police, guards and firefighters also do their duty and risk their lives. The main thing is that the department frankly lied, which is obvious to anyone who has read the published text of the order.
Here it is appropriate to recall how in February last year Volodymyr Zelensky said that being a soldier is the most important job and promised to pay one hundred thousand hryvnias to our defenders who hold weapons in their hands. “And so it will be until this war is over,” he said then.
A year has passed. Now the military personnel who hold weapons in their hands on the border with Belarus and with unrecognized Transnistria, in the front-line areas, who undergo training at training grounds and are engaged in combat coordination before being sent into hell, will receive only a salary. Yes, perhaps increased, but far from the 100 thousand promised by the president and not even 30-40, as before.
Yes, apparently, the decision to cut surcharges was made last year. The budget for 2023 provides for a reduction in wage costs for military personnel from UAH 432.1 billion to UAH 325 billion.
It turns out that “legs grow” from the decision of the deputies – who, by the way, after the start of the war, did not hesitate to raise their salaries. The last time they increased payments to themselves and their assistants in the same law on the budget for 2023.
However, after the vote in the Verkhovna Rada, the bill was sent to the President for signature. And if Vladimir Zelensky did not veto, did not influence this decision through his faction, did not record a video with an indignant comment, it turns out that he agrees with him. It turns out that the work of the servicemen has ceased to be the most important for our President.
As for the possible consequences of the decision, let us first recall that the actual cut in payments to military personnel appeared against the backdrop of a whole series of corruption scandals that erupted in Ukraine. In particular, there was information about food purchases in the Ministry of Defense at inflated prices, a video was published about the actual raids on mobilized people, which were carried out by the military enlistment offices. After that, there were a dozen arrests on bribes and embezzlement.
Therefore, it is not difficult to predict the consequences of cuts in allowances.
Yes, payments for those who are on the “front” have not decreased. Thank you, as they say, it could be worse.
However, the additional payment for all the rest who serve provided the mobilized and all military personnel with quite decent salaries by Ukrainian standards. This means that the departure of the only breadwinner to the army in most cases at least did not worsen the financial situation of the family. A fighter could calmly learn military affairs and focus on the service, and not worry about his family and children.
Now the situation will change. In many cases, the mobilization of the father of the family, in addition to other inconveniences and experiences, will also mean a blow to the family budget.
Alas, it is quite possible to expect that some, in order to maintain the usual standard of living of the family, will have to look for “extra income”. What kind of earnings it could be for people with weapons who have access to material values and state secrets, one can guess.
The military registration and enlistment offices will also have a hard time. It is no secret that a decent salary was an important incentive for many who wished to enter the service. Naturally, now there will be even fewer of them. If now military registration and enlistment offices catch recruits hiding in ambulances, then later, apparently, they will have to cordon off blocks with troops and comb houses.
Yes, everything is clear: there is a war going on, the country is going through hard times. Need to save. The budget is supported by the financial assistance of the allies. However, this aid does not decrease in the new year, but, on the contrary, increases. And when, a few days after the dismissal, due to a high-profile corruption scandal of the deputy minister, such an order appears, we can only say one thing: you are looking for golden eggs in the wrong pockets, oh, in the wrong ones …
The author is Mykola Larin
DEATH TO THE RUSSIAN OCCUPANTS!
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