The Safety Service of Ukraine says 5 charged over plot to embezzle funds earmarked to purchase 100,000 mortar shells.
Workers from a Ukrainian arms agency conspired with Ministry of Defence officers to embezzle nearly $40m earmarked to purchase 100,000 mortar shells for the warfare with Russia, the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU) has reported.
The SBU stated late Saturday that 5 individuals have been charged, with one individual detained whereas attempting to cross the Ukrainian border. If discovered responsible, they withstand 12 years in jail.
The announcement, which was confirmed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, can have a deep influence on a rustic beleaguered by Russia’s almost two-year-old invasion.
The SBU stated an investigation had “uncovered officers of the Ministry of Defence and managers of arms provider Lviv Arsenal, who stole almost 1.5 billion hryvnias [$40m] within the buy of shells.”
“In line with the investigation, former and present high-ranking officers of the Ministry of Defence and heads of affiliated firms are concerned within the embezzlement,” the SBU stated.
The deal concerned the acquisition of 100,000 mortar shells for the navy, with a contract secured in August 2022 and fee made prematurely.
However no arms have been ever supplied, the SBU assertion stated, with some funds then moved to different overseas accounts.
5 individuals have been given “notices of suspicion” – the primary stage in Ukrainian authorized proceedings – each within the ministry and the arms provider, in accordance with the safety service’s assertion.
One suspect, the SBU stated, was detained whereas attempting to cross the Ukrainian border.
Officers accused of taking part within the scheme embrace the present and former heads of the defence ministry’s Division of Army and Technical Coverage, Growth of Armaments and Army Gear, in addition to the pinnacle of Lviv Arsenal.
In line with Ukraine’s prosecutor common, the stolen funds have been seized and can be returned to the defence price range.
Corruption inside Kyiv’s navy has been a thorny concern each because it tries to keep up wartime public morale and current its case to affix the European Union.
Final September, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov was dismissed amid numerous corruption circumstances.
Russia strikes broad swathes of Ukraine
The announcement got here as Russia launched drone and missile assaults hitting each civilian and important infrastructure throughout Ukraine, Kyiv’s Air Drive stated on Sunday.
The Air Drive stated Moscow attacked the central Poltava area with two ballistic missiles fired from its Iskander ballistic missile system. It additionally launched three surface-to-air missiles over the Donetsk area within the east.
Within the southeast Zaporizhia area, Governor Yuri Malashko stated an infrastructure website had been hit in a drone assault.
Filip Pronin, governor of the Poltava area, wrote on Telegram that the assault there hit an industrial website within the metropolis of Kremenchuk, igniting a hearth.
There have been no preliminary studies of casualties, Kyiv stated.
