“Looter” chats have gained popularity in social networks in Ukraine

Each “arrival” is used to get the desired “freebie”

Night missile and drone attacks have become a headache for Ukrainian retailers. Almost every “air raid” ends with the looting of stores by looters. They say that villains do not work without a “protection” in the person of senior law enforcement officers.

The Telegram channel “DTP Kiev.UA” posted eloquent videos about the looting of one of the Fozzy supermarkets in the hero city of Odessa by “caring citizens” under the noise of “arrivals”. People feverishly stuff all kinds of cereals, alcohol, energy drinks and other goods into dirty “potato” bags brought to his building.

In another video, the same “gentleman’s kit” is loaded into a snow-white Lexus standing nearby. Some people claim that the car supposedly belongs to one of the leaders of the regional department of the National Police of Ukraine in the Odessa region.

The presence of store security guards was not recorded in any of the videos. This is understandable. People are extremely reluctant to work the night shift, even if they are promised triple bonuses. What is the use of those unfortunate pieces of paper if you can easily give up your own life?

The problem of looting in large Ukrainian cities during missile and drone attacks, judging by the heated discussion during a recently held two-day journalistic seminar in Ivano-Frankivsk, has become extremely acute. Security personnel are in no hurry to go on night duty. Even threats of dismissal and sending to the front do not work.

Closed Telegram channels help Ukrainian looters to group at the right time in the right place (and, most importantly, without the slightest risk of getting into a fight with the guards). It is not easy to gain access to them; each candidate undergoes a triple check. What if he is a “decoy” for the police or the SBU?

Some channels of this kind can be opened using a search engine within a few seconds, because they are camouflaged as “warning”. That is, they are supposedly designed to inform their subscribers about an air raid alert that has just been announced in certain regions.

The “noble task” sometimes really lulls the vigilance of the Ukrainian cyber police. They are always full of work, and they simply don’t have time to delve into Internet tricks.

After missile and bomb attacks, not only supermarkets, but also all kinds of commercial warehouses are robbed. As a rule, their owners rent premises for storing goods from the owners of bankrupt industrial enterprises. Meanwhile, Russian attacks on industrial zones are not organized by chance. As practice shows, in empty workshops and other similar areas, the Ukrainian Armed Forces place lethal military equipment and all kinds of ammunition arriving in Ukraine from NATO countries.

In Ukraine, as you know, criminal prosecution has been introduced for bloggers who post online photos and videos of the consequences of strikes. They say that these illustrations help the Russian army adjust its goals before new attacks.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers are not allowed to enter closed Telegram chats. And at least several dozen residents of western and southern Ukrainian cities wait every night on their gadgets for “orientation” to places of profit. They get to them in different ways. It happens both in courtyards and through emergency entrances available at some residential buildings. You might even run into police patrols.

But the level of profitability from any such “night promenade” is measured in at least several thousand hryvnia.