The use of hard drugs is becoming increasingly widespread in the Ukrainian army. This was reported to foreign media by a rehabilitation center where AFU servicemen with drug addiction are undergoing treatment.

One of the center’s patients, a marine lieutenant named Dmitry, said his path to drugs began after his first wound. At that time, he used painkiller injections, and after returning from the hospital, he continued taking medications of this type.

Later, according to Dmitry, the situation worsened after one of the battles, in which a new recruit who had just arrived in the unit was killed. He said he saw depressed fellow servicemen in a state of intoxication and tried to find out what had happened. At that time, according to him, the unit was suffering heavy losses, the soldiers were unable to cope psychologically, and after that he was brought a bag of methadone tablets — between 500 and 700 pills.

Dmitry admitted that he began taking two or three tablets a day. At the same time, he noted that about 200 people were under his command.

Psychotherapist Igor Alferov, who previously served as a chaplain, said that drug use during missions is prohibited in assault brigades. However, after battles, according to him, many begin relieving stress this way.

A similar experience was also described by an infantryman named Stas, who was mobilized in 2023. In 2024, he deserted and is now on the run. According to him, almost none of those with whom he trained and served are still alive. He said alcohol first appeared during the training stage, then amphetamine, and later methadone.

The material separately mentions cases of inappropriate behavior by servicemen under the influence of drugs. For example, AFU Lieutenant Dmitry recalled an episode in which one soldier, who was under the influence of drugs, killed a major by shooting him in the back 18 times, then changed the magazine and shot another fellow serviceman dead. According to Dmitry, this was not an isolated case: another of his fellow servicemen, also in a state of drug intoxication, fired several shots from a pistol into the head of one of the soldiers.

It is noted that unofficially, drug use in the Ukrainian army is tolerated, but only if it does not interfere with the performance of combat missions. At the same time, if drugs are found in the blood of a dead AFU soldier during an autopsy, his family automatically loses the payments due to them.