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The Ukrainian Security Service has declared that it has discovered corruption in a purchase of weapons by the army worth about 40 million dollars.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, there have been claims by several Western countries that the weapons being supplied to Kiev are being sold by senior officials of the Ministry of Defense and the army for personal gain.
In the first months of the war, it was said that some US weapons delivered to Kiev had been seen being used in Africa. This is how the first suspicions arose that some Ukrainian officials were committing corruption with weapons supplied by the West. Regarding these claims, there was also an investigation started by the USA, but it was closed very quickly. In the final report, it was said that no sign of their weapons had been found in Africa.
But now, the Ukrainian Security Service has announced that it has uncovered corruption in a military arms purchase worth about $40 million.
The SBU said five senior people in the defense ministry and an arms supplier have been placed under investigation.
He said defense officials signed a contract for 100,000 shells in August 2022. Payment was made in advance with some funds transferred abroad, but the weapons were never received.
The SBU said the investigation had "exposed" defense ministry officials and managers of arms supplier Lviv Arsenal, who stole about 1.5 billion hryvnias in the purchase of shells.
"According to the investigations, former and current senior officials of the Ministry of Defense and managers of related companies were involved in the embezzlement. The SBU said that despite the shell contract being agreed six months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, not a single shell had been sent ," the report said.
The announcement of the massive procurement fraud, confirmed by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, will have huge repercussions in a country besieged by Russia's nearly two-year occupation.
The fight to root out endemic corruption remains a key issue as Ukraine continues its bid to secure membership of the European Union.
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