15.01.2025 Investigations

Pressure on military and political games at the cost of the lives of defenders. Distribution of power in the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense

В Україні змінили командувача Медичних сил ЗСУ - Мілітарний

Officers of the Armed Forces Medical Forces on the front line not only save lives, but also become part of a dirty political game where the question of their effectiveness is only a statistical data. Can corruption at the highest level reach such a scale that even at the frontline those who are supposed to provide the most valuable thing – medical care – are manipulated?

Oksana Sukhorukova, Director of the Healthcare Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, has kept her position under all circumstances and is fighting for her future in the military medicine system. She seems to have become the main defender of the medical sector in the Ministry of Defense. But everything is much more complicated. Roman Kuziv, the young head of the Zaporizhzhia Military Hospital, who is currently in charge of the Medical Forces units in the East, is working with her in the coalition.

Oksana Sukhorukova has long raised questions about the effectiveness of her management of the Defense Ministry’s Health Department. Despite numerous complaints about the poor quality of medical care at the front, her position remains unchanged.

According to our sources, Sukhorukova and Kuziv have formed an alliance to not only keep the director in her position, but also to ensure Kuziv’s career growth. The latter expects to be promoted to commander of the Medical Forces if Sukhorukova manages to convince the Ministry of Defense not to dismiss her. All of this is not just a political game, but a struggle for high government positions, accompanied by manipulations that have long gone beyond the normal work of public authorities.

МОУ створило Департамент охорони здоров'я. Його очолила волонтерка Оксана Сухорукова з досвідом реформи МОЗ

Letter of support – manipulation of signatures of medical service officers

In order to keep Sukhorukova in office, a letter to the Minister of Defense was prepared, allegedly containing support for her candidacy from a large number of medical service officers. However, there is a significant problem with this letter – there are no specific facts or achievements on which to base the honor. The letter looks more like an attempt to manipulate public opinion and the Ministry of Defense, creating the impression that Sukhorukova is irreplaceable.

There is information that as part of this “letter of support” Sukhorukova was given an electronic file with documents in which officers of medical units were forced to sign, confirming support for her leadership. This looks like an attempt to put pressure on Minister Umerov so that he does not succumb to external influence. It is known that Sukhorukova and Kuziv tried to achieve exactly this result, promising support in the form of career advancement and even the closure of the criminal case against Kuziv if the woman remained in her position.

Interestingly, this letter told the medical service officers that if Sukhorukova was dismissed, she would be replaced by Alina Mikhailova, the head of the Ulf’s medical service, who was described as “an illiterate paramedic who does not understand the system of military medicine.” She is also accused of “ruining” military medicine by engaging in self-promotion. This raises serious questions: why this attitude towards a potential candidate? What arguments were used to sign this letter? And is this letter really an expression of support or just another manipulation?

Roman Kuziv: what is known about Sukhorukova’s supporter?

It is impossible not to mention Roman Kuziv, the former commander of the 66th hospital, as his figure plays a key role in this situation. There is evidence that Kuziv is using his official position for his own benefit, including the misuse of humanitarian aid. In addition, there are serious suspicions that his wife, who worked in a vehicle sanitation company, received monthly payments of 100 thousand hryvnias even when she was not in the combat zone. This seems to be a clear abuse of office for personal gain, especially since his wife was actually in Ivano-Frankivsk.

There are also rumors that the State Bureau of Investigation is still investigating these abuses, which only confirms that the suspicions against Kuziv are not unfounded. It is hard to even imagine the scale of abuse if he gets a high position in the medical forces.

It is worth paying attention to the questions that should be asked of the Ministry of Defense and its leadership in the person of Umerov: why is a person who does not have the appropriate qualifications being appointed to such an important post? Why are medical officers signing such a letter? What kind of “events” are taking place within the walls of the Ministry of Defense, and why have these issues not been resolved yet?

Real problems of military medicine

We cannot ignore the issue of the quality of military medicine. The existing problems are systemic and have long been in need of real change.

For example, doctors and medical units do not have sufficient equipment, medicines and medical supplies to provide high-quality care. Military doctors work in extremely difficult conditions, but many of them do not have the necessary support or training for such conditions. Since the state system is unable to provide everything they need, volunteers and charitable organizations often cover the gaps that the state should be covering.

All of these factors call into question the ability of Sukhorukova and the MoD Health Department to cope with the tasks at hand. We cannot rely on manipulations to keep leaders whose activities do not bring real results in the fight for the lives of our military.

Can we allow political manipulations and career games on the blood of our defenders to continue? Military medicine needs real reform, not just another attempt to replace one corrupt official with another. We must demand accountability from those who manage the health of our heroes. If this does not happen now, these manipulations will lead to even greater losses in the future.

We demand a response from the Commander-in-Chief: why is it that the issue of appointment to the Medical Forces is decided by a Defense Ministry official, Sukhorukova? Doesn’t the current head of the unit, Anatoliy Kazmirchuk, who is being raided, have any questions about this situation? And is it possible to allow military personnel to participate in Sukhorukova’s self-serving machinations?

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