An internal audit has uncovered possible waste and graft in Kiev’s Defense Ministry, the newspaper has reported
A Ukrainian government agency established to root out corruption in military procurement amid the conflict with Russia is itself suspected of graft and more than $100 million in overspending, the New York Times reported on Monday.
The revelations stem from an internal audit of the Defense Procurement Agency covering the period from early 2024 through March of this year, according to the outlet. While no criminal charges have been filed, several cases have reportedly been referred for further investigation.
The findings fuel concerns that“Ukraine has made little progress in reining in a longhistoryof corruption in military procurement,”the NYT noted, especially as Western donors increasingly shift from sending weapons directly to financing arms production within Ukraine.
“They overpay for unknown reasons and without justification,”said Tamerlan Vahabov, a former adviser to the agency. During ongoing hostilities, he added,“there is a lack of political will to do it the right way.”
The Defense Procurement Agency was created in 2023 following a series of scandals involving inflated contracts signed under then-Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov. Although Reznikov was forced to resign, he was never charged with any crimes.
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The NYT also described Ukraine’s“wartime experiment”of sourcing equipment from a“chaotic swirl of more than 2,000 weapons suppliers”rather than a few big producers. A separate audit revealed that many of the startups had failed to deliver or even lacked production facilities when awarded contracts.
Domestic weapons manufacturing, funded largely by Western partners, has become central to Kiev’s military strategy. In addition to replenishing its own arsenal, Ukraine aims to boost arms exports to help offset its severe budget deficit.
