Ukraine's military has yet another issue to deal with — problem gambling among its soldiers
CBC
Amid its all-out war with Russia, Ukraine's government is facing another, unexpected foe — problem gambling in the military.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight when a Ukrainian soldier put forward a petition calling on Kyiv to address concerns about gambling among its battle-worn soldiers.
Pavlo Petrychenko said veteran soldiers have turned to online gambling to cope with their stress. He warned of soldiers who had fallen into debt; of gambling firms using patriotic-themed advertising and tactics to target soldiers' business, and of possible security threats from Russian casino sites.
His petition drew thousands of signatures and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has since ordered officials to ban soldiers from all gambling activities and to put Ukraine's gambling industry under tighter control.
Gambling is an issue that has long been present in army life, as soldiers look for ways to cope with wartime pressures.
"Military life generally has been described as long hours of boredom punctuated by a few minutes of terror, and I think that's a very apt description," said Nigel Turner, a scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto.
Ukraine's soldiers have been harshly tested by Russia's all-out invasion, now in its 27th month.
The prolonged conflict has forced Kyiv to make hard choices about how to boost its troop count, but it also faces pressure to give respite to some of the longest-serving army members who have been on the front lines for more than two years.
Turner says that kind of stress could leave some soldiers more vulnerable to problem gambling.
"Most people who gamble don't have a gambling problem, but it's elevated amongst veterans and I suspect it's elevated, generally, amongst soldiers, partly because they have these very strong risk factors," namely, the stress of being in combat, he said.
And for Ukraine's front-line soldiers, there's a lot to be stressed about — whether the hovering drones threatening them overhead, the ammunition shortages, or the existential threat to the country should they lose the war.
"This is a consequence of war... gambling is a break from reality, a secondary reaction to a severe trauma," said Ukraine's deputy minister of veterans affairs, Oksana Syvak.
"During such hostilities, very often people use alcohol, drugs, smoke weed or ... abuse gambling," she recently told the Agence France-Press agency.
Yet not all are convinced the gambling is as severe as is being presented in media reports.