Once more – Ukraine and corruption
We were all hoping for a quiet week, but as soon as we turned the corner on Ukraine and its’ corruption agencies, we’re back to corruption issues in Ukraine. We should not forget that war leads to profiteering and corruption, yet we hope and expect more from Ukraine. The New York Times reported that “… the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office — issued a separate statement saying that four people had been arrested as part of their investigation into “large-scale corruption” in the procurement of drones and electronic jamming equipment.
“The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices — up to 30 percent of the contract amount was returned to the participants in the crime,” the statement added.”
These arrests encompassed senior officials, including a member of Parliament of President Zelenskyy’s party, as well the head of a unit of the National Guard’s military unit and a director of a company supplying drones NABU and SAPO were working with the government, and looking the other way.
Why is this important? Over the past two weeks there have been many allegations that NABU and SAPO have been too close to the government and has not worked independently. This case shows that they can arrest senior officials and can work independently. What needs to be done is to continue monitoring, as well as supporting anti-corruption activists. Additionally, the donors also have to remain vigilant. During the past two weeks the donors influence was extremely important, as the EU reminded Ukraine that it’s way into EU accession was through a strong anti-corruption approach. These mechanisms, donor and civil society monitoring, are robust and will hopefully help the Ukrainian government move in the correct direction when it comes to anti-corruption. These actions and arrests are so important, even to a country at war.
Links:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/world/europe/ukraine-corruption-zelensky.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/2/ukraine-says-defence-sector-corruption-scheme-uncovered
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gq3xwr357o
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/02/europe/ukraine-corruption-drone-scheme-latam-intl
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/08/2/7524538/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/03/world/ukraine-corruption-defense/