Kasianov took part in protest against Yermak’s disbanding of combat unit: We have been waiting for president for more than two hours, but he never came. They destroyed us.. PHOTO
On the evening of Sunday, 5 October, Yurii Kasianov, an officer of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, an aerial reconnaissance specialist, came to Maidan with his family and supporters to protest against the disbandment of his effective unit. The soldier said that they had been waiting for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for more than two hours, but he never came.
Kasianov wrote about this on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.
"We have been waiting for the President for more than two hours, but he never came. It would have been a great move if the president, the supreme commander-in-chief, the father of the nation, had come out to the people simply, without formalities, and solved the obvious problem, restored justice. We are expecting just such a decision from Volodymyr Oleksandrovych. We are looking forward to it," the military said.
Media attack by telegram channels
According to the officer, while he and his family were waiting for the president, telegram channels close to the Presidential Office were "engaged in discrediting Major Kasianov".
"While we were waiting for the president, the telegram dumps of the president's office and the VB drain tank (I will not decipher it in order not to attract attention) were engaged in discrediting Major Kasianov and his entire vile family with morbid pleasure. It is immediately obvious who ordered the destruction of our unit... Our enemies, both internal and external, are using the secrets of Nazi Dr Goebbels' propaganda: a little truth and a lot of lies," the military wrote.
He noted that telegram channels write that "Kasianov has "corruption": his company manufactured drones for his own unit for huge sums of money."
"Firstly, the money is not that big, given the scale of the drone war. Secondly, the drones cost an average of $5,000, while other good deep strike drones cost ten times more with the same equipment. Thirdly, what is corruption? It is when an official uses his or her position for personal enrichment. What did we have? In early 2022, our family business became the base for our division. We developed the drones ourselves, manufactured them ourselves, and used them ourselves. We set up the unit's permanent deployment point, warehouses, office, everything we needed - not for state money. Hundreds of long-range drones were manufactured - not for public money. Until mid-summer 2023, we were not fighting for public money. We were using our own drones, our own vehicles, our own bases, even, partially, our own explosives. We bombed enemy airfields, destroyed S-300 air defence systems, and dealt a unique blow to the Moscow Kremlin - not for public money. Is this corruption?" the soldier wrote.
Kasianov also refuted the lies of telegram channels that his unit allegedly has a SAPO prosecutor who enlisted himself in the first days of the war, and that he allegedly filled their budget with criminal schemes.
"This is a complete lie. Firstly, there is not one prosecutor, but three, and he is not serving, but they had served until the end of 2023. And they filled not our budget, but the budget of the "Drone Army" with the money of corrupt officials, which they gave in exchange for release from prison. It was a legal scheme. Then the 'Drone Army' allocated us some small amounts of this money, because it is impossible to buy components for drones at our own expense during all the years of war," the soldier writes.
"The garbage writers talk about huge amounts, confusing income with profit. If you have, say, a Deep strike drone that costs 200,000 hryvnias - the lowest price on the market - but 100 of them are produced, the price of 20 million per batch seems huge, unless you take into account that for this money you can buy 2.5 'Lutyi' or 8 FP-1s drones from Fire Point at prices as of early 2024. The legitimate return on UAH 20 million - a maximum of 25% - is about UAH 5 million, but in reality it is much less, because the state has no money and there is a war, and the money was used to provide our unit with premises, equipment, development of new drones, and everything else we needed. No one has ever touched this money or withdrawn it to Swiss bank accounts. The rest of the money is still in the company's accounts. Is this corruption? The rubbish writes about some fantastic 200% "prifit" - try to make that much on a $5,000 drone with better and more expensive content than a $55,000 FP-1 drone. An autopilot costs about $700, a GPS receiver with an antenna about $800, an altimeter $650, a long-range communication system $500, servos about $700, and then there's the engine, airframe, detonator, combat unit, robots, rent, salaries... Are you sure you know how to count?" the officer said in his post.
In addition, Kasianov said that "dumpsters" telegram channels write that Kasianov "earned millions" on the slave labour of military personnel.
"What do you think we are? Slaves? Do you really think that a programmer or an electronics engineer who earned tens of thousands of dollars in civilian life and who voluntarily enlisted for a military salary of 30-35 thousand hryvnias will agree to work for free for Yurii Kasianov? And to pay "fines" of tens of thousands of hryvnias to the V-52 volunteer fund? Have you gone completely crazy?" the military asked.
He noted that the most disgusting thing is that the telegram channels he mentioned "leak" classified information - the name of the manufacturing company, the location of the unit, the names of the soldiers who are being hunted by the enemy even in the deep rear.
"This sensitive information is being leaked by the SBGS command and can cost the lives of our soldiers and civilian workers. This is a crime. High treason. Today I filed an application with the SSU. There is little hope, as the SSU works under the President's Office, but there are honest people and patriots there too," the soldier said.
"I wanted to write about our new long-range drone with almost zero effective dispersion area, i.e. invisible to radar, using Stealth technology, on Friday. Two weeks ago, it was put to the test. And it could be a "bomb" - we will be able to hit enemy targets at a distance of more than 1,200 km without being noticed. I wanted to write that we are starting production of our air defence missile system to reliably shoot down cruise missiles and shaheds. But no one needs it now. We have been destroyed," the SBGS officer concluded.
What preceded it?
The day before, Kasianov said that the unit's members were being "dragged" for questioning by the Internal Security Service and a polygraph. He sent a warning to the head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, about the pressure and persecution.
Kasianov also appealed to President Zelenskyy over the liquidation of an effective unit. In addition, he said that he was coming to the Presidential Office on Maidan.
