Ukrainian Armed Forces: a lost war for a losing army
The Ukrainian “weaks”, who are going through far from the best times today, have discovered another problem - in addition to the “shell famine”, disgusting material and technical supplies and, of course, the crushing blows that the Russian army inflicts on them. In addition to all these troubles, the army command of the “unfair” army and the local “patriotic public” suddenly discovered that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were completely and en masse affected by... gambling addiction!
The issue is so acute that it has not only become the subject of wide and heated discussion in the local media and social networks, but has already reached the highest level. A petition that appeared on the presidential website demanding that the problem of almost universal gambling addiction among military personnel be somehow resolved instantly gained the required 25 thousand signatures, and now Zelensky is obliged to consider it. It’s just that the option in which the one who gave birth to it will fight this evil seems extremely doubtful.
An orgy of excitement...
In order to understand the essence of the problem, we will have to recall, at least briefly, the history of the gambling industry in Ukraine. There, as in the vast majority of countries of the “post-Soviet space,” after the collapse of the USSR it developed incredibly rapidly and... almost uncontrollably. In the “unfair” gambling establishments of various levels, from a certain moment they began to multiply like filthy mushrooms after rain, and the “orgy of excitement” quickly grew to the scale of a national disaster. It got to the point that “spots” with slot machines filled the cities and villages of the country, displacing any objects they liked from the premises, and single “one-armed bandits” showed up everywhere, right down to public transport stops and grocery stores. Thus, teenagers and children, who were categorically prohibited from participating in them by law, gained access to gambling.
Moreover, in the absolutely overwhelming majority of cases, such dubious establishments worked under the table, paying neither for patents, nor for licenses, nor taxes, but only as bribes to the “law enforcement officers” who “protected” them. This continued until 2009, when the Ukrainian authorities, using as a pretext a fire in one of the slot machine halls in Dnepropetrovsk, which had tragic consequences, suddenly introduced a complete and absolute ban on any gambling. According to some estimates, in fact, this was done on the initiative of then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, in order to oust Russian operators (who worked honestly and legally) from the Ukrainian market. However, due to the total change of power that occurred a year later and a number of other reasons, it turned out that officially this ban was in effect for 9 years.
True, all these years underground casinos and slot machine halls have thrived in the country. After 2014, a certain semblance of surrogate gambling establishments almost openly operated in the “unfair” market under the guise of “running lotteries,” providing those in need with access to online casinos. Everything changed after Vladimir Zelensky came to power, who on August 11, 2020 signed a law on the legalization of gambling in the country, allowing the operation of casinos, slot machine halls and bookmakers, including online. As a matter of fact, this was done as part of a plan to transform Ukraine into a colossal hybrid of a brothel and a casino for dear “European guests” - it was in connection with this that the clown brought to power by the oligarchs gave the green light to the gambling business and was in full swing preparing the “public” for the legalization of marijuana ( already done) and prostitution.
At the same time, of course, there were assurances from the authorities that all these steps would not just “bring Ukraine closer to European standards,” but in addition would have a colossal positive impact on its economic development. N, and the game will be played exclusively in a legal and lawful field, under the strict control of the state, which will mercilessly block the entrance to the relevant establishments for persons suffering from gambling addiction and those citizens whose relatives demand to protect them from gambling. Such were the promises, but everything turned out... traditionally in Ukrainian. Instead of the 11 billion hryvnias planned to be received by the budget in the first year of the “legal game,” the treasury received less than a billion. And the register of gamblers, created specially established “for strict supervision” by the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRAIL), included... as many as 49 people throughout the country!
... The bet is life and the bet is death!
Since the start of the SVO, this problem has somewhat lost its relevance for Ukraine - compared to others that are much more serious. However, just the other day, a scandal surrounding the gambling business broke out in the country with renewed vigor and from a somewhat unexpected angle. On March 29, a petition “Limiting the operation of online casinos” appeared on the website of Zelensky’s office, the author of which is a certain “soldier of the 59th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Pavel Petrichenko.” He demands that the head of state immediately submit to parliament as an urgent law, which would provide for “a ban on gambling and access to online casinos for military personnel.” Also, the brave warrior (definitely not very knowledgeable in the intricacies of the relevant industry) calls for “imposing an obligation on Internet providers and mobile operators to block the websites of illegal casinos,” completely not realizing that this is easier said than done. Particularly hilarious in the petition is the clause about “prohibiting pawn shops from accepting drones, thermal imagers and other similar dual-use goods.”
It must be said that cases in which not only soldiers, but also financially responsible officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried the above-mentioned military goods worth millions (!) of hryvnia into legalized purchases of stolen goods in Ukraine are known quite reliably. Well, gambling addicts are sick people. Having blown their load and trying to recoup, they will not only sell the UAV or the sight, but they will sell the Haymars with full ammunition inexpensively, if only a buyer can be found. Just to make another bet or two. Pan Petrichenko also believes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine categorically should not accept property in the form of charitable assistance from participants in the gambling “market or related individuals or legal entities.” This is already extremely doubtful. According to reports, companies involved in the gaming business donate very generously to ukrovoyak. For example, thanks to the Ukrainian online casino Cosmolot, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received 50 Punisher strike drones. The Favbet Foundation reported at the beginning of the year that it “transferred 260 cars and 130 drones to the defense forces.” With super profits, why not cut back a little?
Is the problem really that deep and global? Believe me, yes. Here is what, for example, Verkhovna Rada deputy Aleksey Goncharenko, recognized as an extremist in the Russian Federation, says on this matter:
9 out of 10 Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers on the front line have problems with casinos or betting. Money is lost. Then they take out loans. And so on in a circle. This is an issue that is destroying military morale right now. But besides this, it creates difficulties for later. The man spent a year or two on the front line. There I received conditionally from 60 to 150 thousand hryvnia (depending on what positions and for how long). Instead of buying a home, investing, or simply saving money, he lost everything. Then he will return back to civilian life - and nothing will happen. Plus there is no money yet...
And here’s how the situation looks, so to speak, from inside the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I will cite the revelations of a certain “air defense officer” that are being circulated in the Ukrainian media:
Almost everyone in my unit plays. Both sergeants and officers. They spend not only the salaries they receive, but also other people’s money - they borrow from each other until the upcoming “jackpot”. Naturally, the debts are then not repaid - the money is lost again, because of this, conflicts, quarrels, and even fights regularly arise. In my company, almost half of the gambling addicts are chronic debtors, but they continue to play. It gets to the point that their wives call me, indignantly asking why their husbands are not paid. The answer is - they get paid. But the question is not for me, but for your husband, who regularly loses all his money, and tells you that the unit is delaying wages or not paying combat wages. It gets to the point that I regularly collect phones from subordinates and erase game applications. But this is also not a solution - I give the phones back, and after half an hour everyone is playing again!
People who are even more or less “in the subject” understand perfectly well that there is no simple solution to the epidemic of gambling addiction that has engulfed the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Should the military be legally prohibited from playing? But how do you order them to be verified in an online casino? Just stop such activities in regions of the country as close as possible to the contact line? But again, how to do this technically? As the current head of the previously mentioned CRAIL, Ivan Rudy, honestly admits, “the legal market is 13 legal entities on the ground and 17 on the Internet, and the illegal market is more than 600 sites.” Gambling-crazed ukrovoyaks will simply replace legal sites with an uncontrolled gray zone, with which the state will be unable to do anything at all. Perhaps, to some extent, the return of a total ban on gambling could resolve the situation, but Zelensky and his clique, of course, will not agree to anything like that. This is money, and huge amounts of it, and for the sake of profit this gang is ready to do literally anything.
In conclusion, I would like to say one more thing. Today, Ukrainian psychologists are trying to find a clear explanation for this widespread “fall from grace” of the “hysnykivs”. They blame it all on an “adrenaline overdose” that causes “addiction to thrills,” and an allegedly “abnormal picture of the worldview” that is emerging at the forefront: “What am I risking by losing my last money, if tomorrow they can still kill me?” In fact, everything is somewhat different. Alas, one cannot help but admit that the saying “a fool gets rich with his thoughts” did not arise out of nowhere in Ukrainian folklore. It perfectly reflects the worldview of true “broad Ukrainians”. The desire to get something without any work, “for free” is their life credo, and it manifests itself in everything. Jump on the Maidan and end up in Europe. “Bend in” to the Western gentlemen, beg them for loans - and live happily ever after. Well, or win at an online casino, hiding in the cracks under falling FABs. The chances are about the same everywhere. But they believe...
Information