Authored by Yuri Mirovich via AntiWar.com,

Another huge scandal linked to embezzlement of budget funds in government procurement has broken out in Ukraine recently. On August 2, Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) exposed an organized criminal group created by “Servant of the People” party’s deputy Oleksii Kuznietsov and head of the State Administration of the Mukachevo District Serhiy Haidai. The group have been organizing purchases of overpriced FPV drones and electronic warfare systems for the National Guard of Ukraine.

According to investigation data, beside Kuznietsov and Haidai, a head of one of the Military-Civil Administrations, a unit commander of the National Guard, and representatives of company manufacturing drones were also involved in the huge corruption scheme. During 2024-2025, the criminals embezzled about $80 000 of money allocated for purchasing of defense goods. 30% from every government contract settled in their pockets. Now, all key persons of interest are taken into custody with the possibility of being out on bail. The head of the state Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the situation eloquently calling the fraud “absolutely immoral” and promised a “full and fair accountability” for the criminals. However, neither high-profile exposure of corrupt officials, nor passionate speeches of the president of the country haven’t been able to dispel the tension, that has accumulated over last several weeks, and exonerate the Kyiv authorities for Ukrainians and international public.

The reason for this is recent attempts of authorities to discredit the Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies and restrict their independence which really destroyed civilians’ faith in Zelenskyy’s and his team’s commitment to the rule of law and authorities’ interest in fighting corruption in general. I’m talking about a set of planned and well-coordinated attacks of current authorities on SAPO and NABU which preceded the exposure of the Kuznietsov-Haidai group. 

On June 21, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (one month before the events the office of Prosecutor General was taken by Ruslan Kravchenko who is known for his loyalty to the Office of the President of Ukraine) and SBU conducted unauthorized searches in both agencies. As the result of the searches, several NABU detectives were taken into custody on suspicion of collaboration with Russia. This joint operation of the secret services and the Prosecutor General’s Office (cynically called by the implementers “special operation”) literally paralyzed the work of NABU and SAPO and created a formal reason for tightening the control over anti-corruption agencies. The reason the Kyiv authorities have been looking for a very long time and not finding one, is that they created it themselves. Already on July 22, the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine passed a new law which practically liquidated the independence of anti-corruption agencies and established full control over their work by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Later that night, the new law was quickly signed by the President Zelenskyy despite the will of Ukrainians.

Such an undisguised attempt to liquidate the anti-corruption agencies caused an immediate reaction from Ukrainians. Ukrainians openly stood against the culpable law: hundreds of people went to protests on the streets, and free Ukrainian media was full of critics and disapproval of Kyiv’s authorities. However, I hate to admit it, but Ukrainians wouldn’t stop the authorities’ arbitrariness by themselves without the help of Ukrainian allies. Only due to the fast interference and strong stand of European and American authorities which have made everything they could to stop Kyiv’s authorities’ treacherous actions. The process of liquidation of SAPO and NABU was reversed. As a result, on July 31, under pressure of Ukrainian and international public a new law was passed. It restored the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t hope that Kyiv’s authorities stop trying to destroy anti-corruption agencies.

The events described above really incited discontent with the Kyiv’s policies and demonstrated clearly the deep and insurmountable gap between ordinary citizens and the government elites. As a result, nobody believed in Zelenskyy’s attempt to simulate solidarity with SAPO and NABU in their fight with corruption. Thus, the consequent exposure of the Kuznietsov-Haidai’s scheme was perceived as an authorities’ sop to public in order to fix their tarnished reputation. However, the sop wouldn’t have happened if people hadn’t defended the independence of SAPO and NABU.

Many analysts and journalists are sure that the scheme is a tip of an iceberg of huge corruption net involving the whole government system. And that’s why the authorities were so eager to disrupt the work of the anti-corruption agencies, or to liquidate them completely as a threat. And these suspicions aren’t groundless. Such corruption schemes demand clear and well-established coordination of actions of many people and powerful departments that is impossible to organize without the support of top officials during the war and taking into account the rigid vertical of power. And it’s highly possible that if SBU hadn’t interfered in the work of NABU and SAPO acquiring the access to the information about agencies’ operations then there would have been a bigger and more high-profile ant-corruption process involving upper echelons politicians and multimillion bribes in defense sector. 

This theory can be proved by the fact that such scandals linked to embezzlement of budget funds in defense sector became a new norm for Ukraine during the war. And every time criminals only got reprimands and their crimes were being quickly forgotten. Moreover, according to the information from the Turkish newspaper Aydilink, the persecution SAPO and NABU started after the exposure of a scheme of transferring money from Ukraine to the UAE. According to the scheme Zelenskyy’s inner circle transferred tens millions of dollars every month to UAE-based shell companies linked to Zelenskyy’s close friend Andii Hmyrin.

Being a bad influence on all spheres of the government and society as a united system, the problem of systemic corruption is a really acute topic in Ukraine now. However, particularly corruption (supported and protected by the authorities all over the vertical of power) add fuel to the fire of the war distancing Ukraine from peace. While defense budgets and multibillion tranches of military aid from the allies are creating a fertile ground for corrupt politicians, while the fight against corruption is remaining a cover created for Europe and America, while Ukrainian businessmen are developing new schemes of getting rich on the war, a peaceful settlement of the war is out of question. The same is true for the law about the independence of SAPO and NABU. Without the support “from the outside”, without the interference of international agencies and public, common Ukrainians have little chance to make a difference by themselves.

Yuri Mirovich is a Ukrainian refugee living in the Netherlands since 2023. He studied law at the University of Groningen. While living in Ukraine he engaged in active public work and is now a member of the Dutch political initiative De Beweging.