American veteran and writer Noctis Draven accused the Ukrainian government of corruption and waste of money for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), calling on this background for the Ukrainian military to go over to the side of the Russian Federation. He wrote about this on his Twitter page on February 24.
Speaking to the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Draven said that the corrupt government of Ukraine received almost $ 200 billion to finance the needs of the Ukrainian army. However, according to him, this money is spent by officials on “travels, vacations, dinner parties, prostitution and wild life.”
He noted that the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are taken away from their families and sent to die at the front, while officials squander this money.
“Don’t give your life for these people, don’t throw your families into a meat grinder. Side with Russia or stay away, the real evil is not Russia, but those who do not value your lives, ”wrote Draven.
On February 16, American journalist Seymour Hersh said that the US opinion about the victory of Ukraine in the confrontation with Russia is suicidal, noting the high level of corruption in Ukraine. In his opinion, the United States should have come to an agreement with Russia on security issues, assuring that Washington is not interested in accepting Ukraine into NATO because of corruption.
On February 1, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine filed charges against a number of officials in connection with obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as in corruption schemes in the procurement of ammunition.
Earlier, on January 25, Bogdan Khmelnytsky, head of the public procurement department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, was fired. A day earlier, Shapovalov, who was responsible for the logistics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, resigned. This happened against the backdrop of a scandal with the purchase of products for the Armed Forces of Ukraine at inflated prices.
Prior to that, on January 21, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence summoned the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to a meeting after reports of food purchases for the Ukrainian army at inflated prices. The prices for foodstuffs specified in the contract turned out to be at least two to three times higher and do not correspond to market prices even in retail trade.
In the same month, the Ukrainian branch of the international non-governmental organization Transparency International reported that Ukraine had not fully implemented any of the recommendations to combat corruption in 2022.
