Brigadier General Alexander Serpukhov, who has headed the Military Institute of Tank Troops of NTU "KhPI" for over a decade, remains in his post even after exceeding the service age limit. In military circles, he is called a man who "cemented" his position due to his connections in the General Staff and control over the financial flows of the institute.
Despite the requirements of the law, Serpukhov continues to manage the educational institution, hiding behind personal contacts with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky. His name has been mentioned in complaints from cadets and employees for several years, but the Ministry of Defense has not reacted. During this time, the institute, created to train commanders of armored units, has actually become a family-based and corrupt structure, where positions are distributed according to the principle of "friends to friends."
The career rise of Major Olga Taran became one of the most visible symbols of this system. Without a specialized education, she rose from the head of the financial and economic service to a senior researcher at the research laboratory of the faculty of armaments and military equipment. Colleagues say that Taran never engaged in scientific activities, but her name appears in almost all the laboratory reports - by order of the general. Her niece Iryna Svitlychna (Rud) quickly went through the same career steps and eventually took her aunt's place - she headed the financial and economic service of the institute.
Sources at the institute claim that Serpukhov makes personnel decisions behind the scenes, "through his office," bypassing formal commissions. Anyone who is not part of the circle of loyalists is either removed or transferred to units without real influence.
Another figure in the scheme is Sergeant Natalia Kravchenko, who is said to be a protégé of the institute’s deputy head for the rear, Colonel Anatoly Zimnytsky. Despite her low rank, Kravchenko was promoted to captain along with an increased salary. Her task was to sign contracts with contractors, who were determined by Zimnytsky and Serpukhov themselves. The terms of the contracts provided for inflated amounts, and part of the funds, according to employees, were returned in cash to management. It was because of such agreements that construction work on the institute’s territory was repeatedly disrupted or performed poorly, but the contractor companies remained “their own.”
The Social and Humanitarian Department is headed by Colonel Ivan Krylenko, an old comrade of Serpukhov. His deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Meheda, is officially listed in the position, but in fact has never conducted classes and is not even in the same location as the personnel. Despite this, he receives a salary and allowances. It is Meheda who is entrusted with the management of the consolidated unit, which, according to sources, earns money for the “top management”.
One of these units is staffed by the wife of former Lieutenant Colonel Bolgarin, a notorious bribe-taker who was nicknamed the command's "cashier" by his colleagues. Her career growth — from sergeant-in-chief of the club to lieutenant-in-charge — took just a few months.
There is a whole group of so-called “dead souls” at the institute: Dychko, Han, Captain Bondarenko, Sergeant Varshavsky. All of them appear in the information as teachers, but they have not conducted a single class. They receive salaries and bonuses regularly, and part of the funds are allegedly returned to Serpukhov “for support.”
The most cynical thing is that all these facts do not become a reason for personnel decisions. Three years after reaching the maximum service age, Serpukhov continues to head the institute, while dozens of officers with combat experience cannot even get into the competition. During the war, the leadership of the military university demonstrates a demonstrative indifference to the front, but is actively engaged in the redistribution of positions and allowances.
Veterans who served at the institute say that the educational institution has turned into a “nest of corruption, where ranks and positions are sold, and science exists only on paper.” The Ministry of Defense is silent, as is the leadership of NTU “KhPI.” Serpukhov himself, according to sources, justifies his tenure with “Syrsky’s personal blessing.”
Meanwhile, the institute, which was supposed to train officers for tank brigades, has become a hotbed of nepotism, financial manipulation, and fictitious bets. And its head is a symbol of how military reforms in Ukraine often stop at the level of personal connections.
