Ukraine is being rocked by a $100 million corruption scandal involving government officials close to Volodymyr Zelensky, amid the Ukrainian president's efforts to secure European funding and new warplanes for the war against Russia, Le Monde reports Monday.
Timur Mindich, a close associate and former business partner of Zelensky, has been accused by Ukraine's western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) of involvement in a $100 million embezzlement scheme involving the state-owned nuclear energy firm Energoatom.
As part of the investigation, anti-corruption authorities raided the luxury apartments of Ukrainian politicians in Kiev, one of which had a gold toilet, photos of backpacks full of cash, and audio documents of officials discussing money laundering strategies.
The EU leadership continues to stand by Zelensky but is pressing him to resolve the corruption issue to help sidestep criticism from EU politicians who oppose further military aid to Ukraine and its accession to the bloc, the French newspaper wrote. France is among those EU nations reportedly demanding that Zelensky swiftly resolve the issue.
"They know very well what our expectations are," a source at the French presidency told the Le Monde ahead of Zelensky's arrival in Paris to seek military support from French President Emmanuel Macron.
France is urging "transparency" and emphasizing "seriousness" in ending corruption, the source stated.
While in Paris, Zelensky signed a deal with Macron that will see Ukraine purchase additional weapons, including 100 Rafale fighter jets over ten years.
"It will be the greatest air defense, one of the greatest in the world," Zelensky claimed while speaking in front of French and Ukrainian flags at the Villacoublay military airport.
Zelensky is also pushing the EU to issue a $160 billion loan backed by Russian central bank assets frozen and held by European financial firm Euroclear.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a strong supporter of the Ukraine war, demanded that Zelensky take action. "The German government's expectation that Ukraine press ahead energetically with fighting corruption and implementing further reforms, particularly in the area of the rule of law," a spokesperson for the Chancellor stated.
Merz also reportedly urged Zelensky "to ensure that young men from Ukraine do not come to Germany in ever-increasing numbers but rather serve in their own country."
In September, Kiev loosened restrictions imposed under martial law since the start of the war that had prevented military-aged young men from leaving the country. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22 are now allowed to leave their country without facing prosecution, despite a manpower shortage in the Ukrainian military.
Le Monde added that Russian forces are close to capturing the strategic city of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) on the eastern front, amid a critical shortage of Ukrainian soldiers.
The corruption scandal has angered the Ukrainian public, which has heard allegations that state officials, including Zelensky, have been stealing state funds on a massive scale since the start of the war nearly three years ago.
"Ukrainians don't have any motivation to fight now because of enormous human rights violations and also because of this corruption now exposed," a former Ukrainian official told Fox News on Monday.
"People inside the country are already seeing this corruption, and this is just part of the corrupt swamp. Zelensky is part of the problem," the official claimed.
Loading recommendations...