DONETSK, June 2. /TASS/. Kiev does not issue official documents to those mobilized in the Ukrainian army in order not to pay compensation to their families in case they get killed, Maxim Likhachev, a former Ukrainian soldier who came over to Russia’s side on a T-64 tank, said.

"I was transferred from the 119th Brigade to the 59th Brigade, but the process was not documented and I was not put on any lists. There were many of us. <...> The goal is to avoid payments," Likhachev said.

According to him, such an approach was particularly popular in the last unit where he served. It is also applied to those who "get caught in the street" and receive training to be sent to the hottest sectors of the frontline.

He added that he had joined the 101st Brigade of the Security Brigade of the General Staff of Ukraine in 2022. A year later, following a scandal involving a commander, he was transferred to the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces. "It’s a special brigade for defaulters. They are bullied and humiliated there," he explained.

The soldier was later transferred to the 119th Brigade to be sent to the frontline. This was his last official deployment, Likhachev said. According to documents, he was not part of his new unit, just like many of his fellow soldiers.

Maxim Likhachev is a native of the city of Krasnodon in the Lugansk People’s Republic. An intel source told TASS earlier that the former Ukrainian soldier had surrendered to Russian troops near the city of Donetsk. He drove a stolen T-64 tank across the frontline to reach a designated location.