The Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, along with a number of senior officials, also submitted their resignations on the grounds of corruption cases related to the army.
The resignations come in conjunction with criticism of rampant corruption in Kyiv and the army as well. Will this affect Western and American support, especially financial aid, during the coming period?
new hurdle
The Ukrainian president’s pledge came shortly after the dismissal of Vasyl Lozenkich, the deputy minister of municipal development, on suspicion of taking bribes, while the Ministry of Defense announced the opening of an investigation into accusations of exaggerated contracts for food products intended for the military.
In a similar incident, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said that Vasil Luzhinkich, who has held the position of Deputy Minister of Municipal Development since May 2020, received $400,000 to facilitate the conclusion of contracts for the purchase of equipment and generators at inflated prices, while Ukraine is facing a shortage of electricity after the Russian strikes on power installations
Polish politician and media figure Kamil Gil Katie says, during his statements to “Sky News Arabia”, that the timing of opening corruption files will negatively affect the support provided by the West to Kyiv, especially in the field of construction and infrastructure.
And Camille Gil Katy confirms that these issues will soon have a Western reaction in more than one direction:
- The western street will push for reducing subsidies and even banning them due to corruption.
- The spread of corruption will hinder any attempts to rebuild Ukraine.
- The levels of corruption and bribery have moved from the lower circles and junior officials with the length of the months of the war to reach unprecedented levels.
- Corruption is a widespread problem in Ukraine, as it is in many countries of the Soviet Union.
Arms market
Over the past months, there have been many warnings about the activity of the black market for weapons inside Ukraine. Here, the Russian researcher in the history of international relations, Solonov Plavrev, says that the West has evidence of this, and the evidence is the decline in supporting Ukraine with certain types of weapons for fear of selling them.
Ukraine’s history as an arms smuggling center dates back to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the Soviet Army left behind large quantities of small arms and light weapons in Ukraine, without keeping adequate records and monitoring its stockpiles.
According to the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research organization, part of the stock of small arms of the Ukrainian army, which in 1992 amounted to about 7.1 million pieces, reached conflict zones around the world, which confirms the risk of weapons leaking into the local black market.
The head of the International Police Organization (Interpol), Jürgen Stock, has also warned that weapons destined for Ukraine will end up in the hands of criminals, and as such, he urged member states to cooperate in tracking down the small firearms and heavy weapons that could proliferate through the shadow economy when the war is over.
Solonov-Blavrev confirmed that Ukrainian military officials acknowledged that their country had lost nearly fifty percent of the weapons that had arrived since the outbreak of the conflict last February, which affected the course of the battles and the embarrassment of Western leaders who continue to waste money to support the Kyiv regime.
Embezzlement has been frequent in Ukraine for decades, as it has a long history of endemic corruption. The European Union made implementing anti-corruption reforms one of its main requirements for Ukraine’s accession last year.
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