Two Ukrainian Defense Ministry officials are suspected of embezzling funds worth more than six million euros for the purchase of bulletproof vests, an anti-corruption body said on Tuesday.
This revelation points to a new case of corruption in a country that has been facing the Russian military invasion since February 2022.
According to the state investigative agency, a former deputy defense minister responsible for army logistics and the head of a ministry department responsible for supplies are suspected of “embezzlement through large-scale abuse of power.”
The two men, whose identities were not disclosed, “ordered poor quality personal protective equipment abroad” and were previously paid in full without respecting “the expected quality control procedure”, the same source said.
“As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received poor-quality body armor that endangered lives when used in combat,” the research agency further reported.
The two men, who are being held, face a prison sentence of up to twelve years.
According to the investigation agency, this misappropriation of funds represents a new episode in a broader case totaling more than EUR 36 million and involving contracts for the supply of poor quality ammunition to the Ukrainian army.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has been rocked by several cases of corruption.
In August, the media reported the ministry’s purchase of uniforms at high prices, and in January the purchase of food products for soldiers for particularly large amounts.
In early August, all those responsible for regional military recruitment were dismissed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the aim of dismantling a system of corruption that, among other things, allowed recruits to avoid military service.
Following these scandals, then Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov resigned.
The fight against corruption, an endemic evil in the country, is one of the criteria established by the European Union (EU) to examine the candidacy for membership of Ukraine, which has received tens of billions of euros in Western aid since the start of the war received.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the worst security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Ukraine’s Western allies have supplied weapons to Kiev and approved successive sanctions packages against Russian interests to try to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort.
Source: DN
