Ukraine claims that dishonest officials stole $40 million for weapons to combat Russia

According to the Ukrainian security agency, employees of a Ukrainian armaments company colluded with officials from the defense ministry to steal about $40 million that was supposed to be used to purchase 100,000 mortar rounds for the conflict with Russia.

Five individuals have been charged, according to the SBU, which announced late on Saturday. One person was arrested while attempting to enter the Ukrainian border. They may spend up to 12 years behind bars if proven guilty.

The probe is underway as Kyiv works to combat corruption in an effort to expedite its entry into NATO and the European Union. Before Kyiv can join them, officials from both blocs have requested extensive anti-graft changes.

Long before Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, was elected in 2019 on an anti-corruption platform. The president and his advisors have presented the recent dismissals of high-ranking officials—most notably, the July 2022 firing of Ivan Bakanov, the former chief of the State Security Service—as evidence of their efforts to combat corruption.

According to security authorities, the present inquiry began in August 2022 when officials signed a deal with the armaments company Lviv Arsenal for artillery rounds valued at 1.5 billion hryvnia ($39.6 million).

Employees of the enterprise were expected to deposit money to a foreign corporation after receiving payment, and that company was subsequently responsible for shipping munitions to Ukraine.

But according to authorities, the money was transferred to many accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans, but the products were never delivered.

The money was subsequently confiscated, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, and would be added back to the military budget of the nation.