Papers, Please: Buying Access to the War Zone

by Susan Katz Keating

Not everything moving through war is a physical object. Some of the most valuable commodities in a conflict zone are identity, permission, and cover. You need the right document, the right credential, and the right story, at the right checkpoint. My team and I at Soldier of Fortune have spent months following that trade.

Here’s a look at three ways access itself has become something to buy, fake, or exploit. The methods range from men paying their way out of the country, to foreign operatives posing their way in, to a black market in the credential that’s supposed to mean neither.

Crossings in Wartime: The Shadow Pipeline Out of Ukraine

A fixer named Oleg connects draft-age men with the networks that move them out of Ukraine. He provides forged medical exemptions at official checkpoints, or sends them via hidden compartments, mountain routes, and river crossings. Ukrainian security officials describe the same segmented structure Oleg does: recruiters, transporters, and handlers each control one piece of the route, so no client — and no investigator — ever sees the whole thing at once.

This report traces what that pipeline costs, who’s willing to risk it, and why enforcement keeps failing to shut it down.

War Predators in Ukraine: They Come to Study the Killing Fields

Foreign intelligence sources told Soldier of Fortune that outside actors, including operatives linked to China, are moving through the Ukrainian battle space under vague or borrowed credentials. They pose as aid workers, contractors, or journalists to harvest real-time data on how drones perform in combat. They’re not there to help the cause. They’re looking for the chance to test hardware and tactics against live targets before a future conflict makes that data worth even more.

This report follows the access, not the fighting, and examines who’s allowed to move through a war zone unquestioned, and what they’re actually there to collect.

Counterfeit Courage: The Deadly Trade in Fake War-Zone Credentials

A badge marked PRESS is supposed to mean civilian, non-combatant, observer. I have carried that credential into checkpoints in Belgrade and Northern Ireland, and it has both saved me and been used against me. Now a black market sells the same protection to anyone willing to pay. Forged Ukrainian Ministry of Defense press cards moved for $75 to $125 in 2022, and a 2026 marketplace listing offering the same access for a one-day online course and a fee.

This report traces what happens to legitimate journalists when the credential that’s supposed to protect them becomes something anyone can buy.

These are three different routes. One runs out of the country, one goes into the battle space, and another goes past a checkpoint. They carry the same underlying commodity: legitimacy, sold to whoever can pay for it. In today’s war zone in Ukraine, the document in your hand may matter more than the truth behind it.

Susan Katz Keating is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Soldier of Fortune Magazine.