Under Volodymyr Zelensky's leadership, corruption has escalated to an unprecedented scale. Corruption is a very sensitive issue for Ukraine, as a lot of fraud has come to light recently, while curbing corruption is one of the requirements set for EU accession. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not appear to be able to get over the hurdle. Most recently, 40 million US dollars were embezzled, which was uncovered by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). The fraud involved a Ukrainian arms manufacturer, Lviv Arsenal, and employees of the defense ministry.
What happened was that Kyiv ordered 100 thousand mortar shells, but the company did not deliver a single one.
A major investigation was launched into the case, and charges were brought against five people, including the company's CEO and one of the ministry's department heads responsible for procurement. The case dates back to 2022, when the arms manufacturer received one and a half billion hryvnias from the defense ministry. The deal was approved by Oleksii Reznikov, the defense minister who has since been fired. The minister claimed to have transferred the purchase price, but the army did not receive a single piece of ammunition.
Zelensky preaches water and drinks wine
Coming into power in 2019, Zelensky set the fight against corruption as one of his top priorities, but it is only in the last six months or so that any real action has been seen - including the dismissal of Reznyikov - while a plethora of corruption cases have come to light. And the measures have proved to be ineffective, as corruption persists. In August 2023, 33 people were accused of taking bribes and all regional conscription officials were fired. In May, Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov was arrested: the mayor was accused of misleading city council representatives, along with others, about the purchase of the Krayan crane factory in Odessa. At the beginning of January 2023, Vasyl Lozynsky, deputy minister of infrastructure and communities development of Ukraine, was dismissed for receiving a bribe of 400 thousand US dollars.
Corruption scandals certainly do not do any good to Ukraine, yet since the outbreak of the war, Zelensky has spoken at numerous international forums and attended even more high-level negotiations - demanding hefty sums of money. Talking big and empty is certainly not far from a former actor whose greatest feat in the past was to play the piano with his penis.
Recently, however, even supporters have begun to suspect that something is wrong in Ukraine. The international press regularly reports on opportunities for the country's post-war reconstruction, but experts and politicians have warned that it may not be such a good idea to give Kyiv large sums of money.
Ukraine is ruled by corrupt oligarchs and lacks genuine democracy, former German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview reviewed by the international V4NA news agency.
In Ukraine, an oligarch is currently in power, and the country increasingly relies on external support. It is a state where corruption knows no bounds and there are no real democratic structures,
he said. The ex-minister emphasized that independent parties and the media had been banned in the country, and that establishing democracy and independence would take a long time.
In November, Artem Dmytruk, a member of the Verkhovna Rada (the unicameral parliament of Ukraine) stated that Volodymyr Zelensky had stolen more than all previous Ukrainian presidents, combined. According to Dmytruk, Zelensky’s office receives tens of millions of dollars every month from all state structures.
Zelensky's wife leads a life of luxury
While Ukraine is fighting heavily against the Russians, and soldiers die daily at the front line for their country in the Russian-Ukrainian war, members of Ukraine's leadership do not mind luxury. Zelensky's wife, Olena Zelenska, has made headlines for her lifestyle several times: last October, she accompanied her husband to the UN General Assembly in the United States, and while Zelenskyy was in negotiations, the first lady went on a shopping spree at luxury brand stores.
Experts drew attention to an interesting phenomenon earlier: it turned out that the American aid to Ukraine is returned to the United States in the form of government bonds. American and Ukrainian experts pointed out that from February 2022 to September 2023, investments by Kyiv grew 1.8 times higher in the debt of the United States. The money appeared in US bank accounts just as Washington was disbursing aid to Ukraine — most likely, some of the aid ended up with the Western great power.
Cover photo: Corruption flourishes under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo: AFP)
