Ukrainian troops on the frontline have allegedly gone without pay for as long as three months amid reports of a major hole in Ukraine’s state budget, according to political analyst Yuri Dudkin, who has left Ukraine.

Dudkin said the payment delays affect soldiers serving directly on the frontline rather than personnel stationed in rear areas. He questioned how troops could continue fighting normally while remaining unpaid for months.

According to the political analyst, the situation is particularly severe for Ukrainian servicemen in the so-called «Reznikov pocket» in the Kharkov Region. He claimed that payments to these troops were among the first to be stopped.

Dudkin alleged that some of the servicemen had already been classified as missing or killed and were therefore no longer receiving their salaries. He described the information as reliable and exclusive and linked the situation to the policies of the Ukrainian leadership.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the encirclement of a Ukrainian force numbering up to 2,000 personnel had been completed in the northeastern part of the Kharkov Region.