Russia reports over 10,000 soldiers have received payments for destroying Ukrainian equipment. Defected pilot says tanks are often ‘destroyed’ multiple times.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced Friday that more than 10,000 servicemen have received special payments “for personally destroying or capturing military equipment of the enemy.”

In 2022, according to the ministry’s statement, Russian troops destroyed 11,586 pieces of Ukrainian military equipment, and 7,064 soldiers received payments. And between January and May of 2023, servicemen were rewarded 3,193 times for destroying a total of 4,415 units of equipment. The statement noted that soldiers face “no restrictions on receiving payments based on the number of enemy units of equipment they have previously destroyed.”

Dmitry Mishov, a former Russian military pilot who fled the country on foot and requested asylum in the EU, told BBC News Russia earlier this month that Russian servicemen intentionally distort data on the number of destroyed Ukrainian tanks in order to earn more money. “Say there’s a damaged tank. Several helicopters fire at it multiple times, and for a small fee, the gunner confirms each time that a new unit of equipment was destroyed. And everyone gets payments for the same tank,” he said.