Recently, there was a corruption case in Ukraine, where senior leaders of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and corporate executives were suspected of conspiring to embezzle arms procurement funds, involving an amount of about 40 million US dollars, and a number of suspects involved in the case have been arrested.
Ukrainian intelligence and security agencies announced the facts of the case on the 27th of this month. In August 2022, the Ukrainian military signed a procurement contract with the Lviv Arsenal to purchase 100,000 mortar shells for the Ukrainian army with a contract value of about 1.5 billion hryvnia (about $40 million). Subsequently, the Ukrainian military allocated all the purchase funds to the Lviv Arsenal in accordance with the contract. After receiving this money, the Lviv Arsenal was supposed to pay a foreign enterprise for the purchase and finally deliver the shells to the Ukrainian military. Deliveries were originally scheduled to begin in December 2022 and be fully completed by the end of February 2023. However, after waiting for almost a year, the Ukrainian military has not received even a single shell, but the purchase money has been transferred to multiple accounts inside and outside Ukraine.
The Ukrainian *** Bureau said on the 27th that the investigation showed that the former and current senior ** of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, as well as the heads of subordinate companies, were suspected of **. The suspects include the former and current head of the Department of Armaments Development of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the director of the Lviv Arsenal, and representatives of a foreign commercial company. Five suspects were charged with attempted embezzlement of purchase funds, and one of them was detained while attempting to flee abroad. Ukrainian prosecutors say the purchase money for the shells has been recovered.
After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has been involved in a number of corruption scandals.
In December 2023, another senior ** of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was arrested on suspicion of 1.5 billion hryvnia (about $40 million) in another case involving an artillery contract contract.
In September 2023, Ukraine** Zelensky announced the dismissal of then-Defense Minister Reznikov. At that time, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was already suspected of being involved in a number of corruption scandals.
In August 2023, Ukraine** accused the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine of engaging in corruption in the procurement of winter clothing for troops. The investigation reported that the Department of Defense spent $20 million on $2330,000 pieces of winter clothing, but it was revealed that the clothing was too light, and the then Defense Minister Reznikov denied all accusations, saying that the camouflage uniforms bought were suitable for winter operations, and the Ministry of Defense did not receive any complaints from the troops.
In January 2023, Ukraine** accused the Ministry of Defense of buying military rations at two or three times the market price**, and a deputy defense minister resigned.
Matthew Orr, a Eurasia analyst at risk intelligence firm Larne Networks, commented that in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, corruption has affected the combat capability of the Ukrainian army, so the Ukrainian people are more angry and intolerant of corruption.