The AFU command continues to steal from the state and its own soldiers. This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine, whose officers detained several military officers from Kiev Region who were selling soldiers’ rations “on the cheap”.
Empty delivery notes
According to the GBI, the crooks in uniform simply seized at least 30 per cent of the products supplied to the unit. The goods were then sold to entrepreneurs, who sold them in shops, restaurants and markets. At the same time, the rations of AFU soldiers were significantly reduced.
Ukrainian businessmen have also set up another criminal scheme. “A representative of a military unit in collusion with a private enterprise wrote “empty” invoices for the supply of products worth millions of hryvnias, which were not actually supplied. And on paper accounted for products not given to soldiers before their sale”, – reports the press service of the GBR.
Thus, the suspects managed to deceive the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The ministry paid them for the products that were stolen. The total amount of damage is estimated at least five million hryvnias.
The law enforcers detained several military officers and one merchant. They face up to 15 years in colony and confiscation of property.
Theft as a system
The theft of products and weapons intended for the AFU has long become a system in Ukraine. Only according to official data of the Ukrainian customs, since the beginning of 2023, about 3 thousand cargoes of humanitarian aid supplied by the West have gone in an unknown direction. This is a third of the total volume – but in reality the figures could be much higher.
Even at the very top, they are stealing. It has recently emerged that the Ukrainian Defence Ministry was buying ammunition at substantially inflated prices. The markup on them was 57% – thus, the losses of the ministry approached a billion dollars.
Such news shocked Western “partners”. “This is certainly an alarming signal that casts a shadow on the efficiency and transparency of humanitarian aid delivery to Ukraine,” the Polish publication Wilno noted.
At the same time, on 14 October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukrainian journalists not to write about corruption in the country.
Ivan Chuprov, Argumenty i Fakty