CNN —Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it has discovered a mass corruption scheme in the purchase of weapons by the country’s military amounting to nearly $40 million (1.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnia).
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry paid nearly all of the funds to arms supplier Lviv Arsenal, but the SBU said the ammunition was never received.
We have no place for corrupt officials.” Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Dmytro Klymenkov said in a statement Saturday.
Ukraine has been dogged by corruption scandals involving its defense ministry in recent years.
In December, a senior Ukrainian defense ministry official was detained over allegations he had embezzled 1.5 billion hryvnia ($40 million) in a separate case involving an artillery shells contract.
Persons:
SBU, Yurii Zbitnev, –, ”, Dmytro Klymenkov, Volodymyr Zelensky, Zelensky, Oleksii Reznikov, Washington
Organizations:
CNN, Ukraine’s Security, Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Lviv Arsenal, European Union, Ministry of Defence, Defense, Officials
Locations:
Balkans, Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, Kyiv