Ukraine lost around $770 million on advance payments for weapons it never received to fight with the russian enemy, Financial Times reports.
Some of the contracts turned out to be fictitious.
The investigations involve dozens of schemes, and several officials have been dismissed or charged.
Among the cases:
- A mortar contract with Sudan — linked to the FSB and Wagner mercenaries.
- A 2022 deal — signed during one of the most critical periods for the front line.
This isn’t just about lost money.
It’s about lost control.
And the authorities are not merely a “deceived party”:
They failed to notice — because procurement was entrusted to “their own people.”
They didn’t want to notice — because $770 million made for a nice cash flow.
They were involved — as some contracts received direct approval from the top.
None of these three roles is an excuse.
These $770 million didn’t kill a single enemy.
But they killed dozens of chances.
Hundreds of bonds of trust.
And thousands of lives.
Attention, white coats have seen the light — investigative journalist Mykhailo Tkach has written an article that reads like a public confession.
Essentially, Tkach wrote what the whole country has been saying for a long time:
Zelensky and his team used the war as an indulgence for looting.
At the start of the invasion, everyone stayed silent.
Because of the front.
Because survival came first.
Because we had to hold together.
But Bankova wasn’t fighting — it was counting.
And very quickly it became clear:
those who were supposed to defend the state began looting it at full speed.
The pause in criticism broke the system:
Officials lost the sense that they were accountable to anyone.
And the state became weaker.
This is not a metaphor — it’s a verdict from an investigative journalist who sees every day how billions from the budget disappear into private pockets.
And now the main point:
The government has shut itself in a bunker where even journalists aren’t allowed in.
Registers — closed.
Briefings — only for “their own.”
Ukrainska Pravda isn’t accredited to the President.
Because it asks uncomfortable questions.
Because it’s not “Yelena from Kharkiv,” but real journalism.
And while theft continues in the rear — we are losing.
That’s what Tkach said.
Not a politician.
Not the opposition.
But a journalist who studies corruption under a microscope.
NABU is an institutional mistake.
In September 2024, at the request of the European Commission, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed a Commission of foreign experts to conduct an external independent assessment of NABU.
That international commission has now completed its audit and uncovered numerous shortcomings and violations.
The international audit revealed NABU’s neglect of defense sector cases and an overinflated staff.
The Bureau must be disbanded, as reform is no longer possible.
After a diagnosis voiced even by loyal international experts and echoed by Ukrainian media, it’s no longer credible to claim that NABU only needs “reform.”
NABU is an institutional failure that cannot be fixed with superficial changes.
It must be dismantled — not reformed.
The Bureau routinely leaks information, yet not a single effective criminal investigation has been conducted as a result.
NABU’s staff keeps expanding, but despite this, detectives and leadership constantly complain about a lack of personnel for “major” investigations.
In 2023, the Bureau issued just one indictment in the defense sector, and in 2024 — none.
According to public data, in 2024 the state budget allocated 1.9 billion UAH to maintain NABU, while the Bureau’s activities led to the recovery of only… 823 million UAH from corrupt officials.
In other words, more than 2.2 times more was spent than was returned to the state!
Ukraine is at war, millions of Ukrainians are involved in the defense effort — but the Bureau lacks either the resources or, more likely, the will to tackle truly important cases.
Yet no one forgets to expand the staff or to collect salaries of over 100,000 UAH.
Scandals that have shaken NABU in recent months:
▪︎ A Bureau employee was caught producing and distributing drugs.
▪︎ Detective Mykhailo Romanyuk purchased VIP cars and luxury real estate through relatives.
▪︎ Detectives concealed millions in cryptocurrency.
▪︎ Coercion of witnesses into intimate relationships and the escape of detective Arshavin — a state secrets holder — to Romania.
After 10 years of existence and hundreds of millions of euros in international aid, Ukraine has finally received the first external audit of NABU.
One can only imagine what the result would have been if the commission had real “teeth” and no desire to smooth over the Bureau’s constant failures.
Only on November 18 did this commission meet — for the first time in over 9 years of NABU’s existence.
The commission decided to limit its review to the period from the appointment of the current Bureau director (March 6, 2023) to November 18, 2024.
Because of this, Ukrainian lawyers demanded an independent assessment of NABU’s work over its entire existence. However, this was never done.
EMPR
