William Molinié, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credit: WOJCIECH GRZEDZINSKI / ANADOLU AGENCY / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA AFP
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7:03 a.m., June 20, 2023
While Ukraine has begun its counter-offensive and kyiv claims several liberated localities, Moscow claims that the Ukrainian maneuver is a failure. In an effort to encourage its soldiers to destroy Western tanks delivered to the battlefield, the Russian Ministry of Defense has detailed a bounty system.
The Ukrainian army announced on Monday that it had recaptured the village of Pyatykhatky, located on the southern front. In total, kyiv claims a total of eight localities liberated in two weeks, since the start of the counter-offensive, with 113 km2 of reconquered territory. For its part, Moscow insists that the Ukrainian maneuver is a failure. To encourage its soldiers to destroy Western tanks delivered to the battlefield, the Russian Ministry of Defense has detailed a bounty system.
10,000 Russian soldiers rewarded since the start of the war
More than 10,000 Russian soldiers have already received individual bonuses since the start of the war, according to the Kremlin. A very precise scale has been set: 50,000 rubles, or just over 500 euros for an enemy armored vehicle, 1,000 euros for a tank. Amounts which are increased if the Russian soldiers manage to destroy Leopard tanks, of German manufacture and armored vehicles supplied by the United States. This performance bonus system, bordering on mercenarism, is a long tradition of the Soviet army which is also accompanied by facilities when a soldier enlists, with nearly 5,000 euros for a soldier mobilized in Ukraine. .
But, according to several media, many Russians have never received this amount of money. On the Ukrainian side, the premium command is also a lever. According to a Western military source, kyiv is offering its troops $200 for the capture of a Russian soldier at the front. A way to encourage the Ukrainian military to respect the laws of war and to spare their enemies when they intend to surrender. At the beginning of May, in Bakhmout, a Russian infantryman was even guided by a Ukrainian drone to join the enemy trenches and become a prisoner.