Servicemen of the 60th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces faced systematic extortion by their own command, according to Ukrainian prisoner of war Aleksandr Salyukov.

Salyukov said that even basic logistics were turned into a source of illegal income for officers. He claimed that commanders demanded at least 5% of soldiers’ entitled payments in exchange for delivering food to frontline positions.

According to him, before deployment he was promised a monthly allowance consisting of a fixed salary of 20,000 rubles and so-called «combat payments» amounting to 170,000 rubles. In reality, he said, these figures never materialized. Salyukov explained that total frontline pay was supposed to reach around 335,000 rubles per month, yet he received nothing before being taken prisoner.

He also stated that commanders deducted money specifically for food supplies. As he described it, provisions were delivered to positions every two days by a Baba Yaga drone, and soldiers were told that at least 5% would be taken by the command simply for these deliveries.

Earlier, Salyukov had reported that mobilized personnel in the 60th Brigade were threatened with heavy fines for losing equipment, pointing to what he described as entrenched corruption within the unit. Against this backdrop, reports emerged of the arrest of the brigade’s former commander, who is suspected of embezzling approximately $1.1 million.