Ukraine: A military unit is accused of causing the country to lose nearly one million euros

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced, on Tuesday, the opening of legal procedures following the discovery of violations in a military unit that caused the state to lose approximately one million euros, most notably through contracts awarded at exaggerated prices.

The ministry explained in a statement on the Telegram application that the audit revealed several violations that led to losses of about 39 million hryvnia (about one million euros) of public funds in a military unit based in the Chernigov region (north).

He added that criminal proceedings had been initiated, without specifying the targets.

He said on Telegram that the most important violations discovered related to the purchase of generators in 2022, the inflated cost of which led to a loss of more than 37 million hryvnia.

“As a result, the unit purchased 163 generators less than the required quantity,” the ministry said, also denouncing the late delivery of these devices, which it had eagerly awaited last winter due to the massive power outages resulting from Russian strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

He explained that “between October 2022 and April 2023, as the army was in dire need of generators, most of them were not delivered to military units, but were assembled in warehouses” and “only 15%” were provided to the troops.

Combating corruption, which is an endemic evil in the country, is one of the criteria set by the European Union to study the candidacy of Ukraine, which has received tens of billions of euros in Western aid since the Russian invasion began nearly two years ago. since.

Several corruption scandals have rocked Ukrainian officials in recent months, including within the Ministry of Defense.

“We will continue to systematically identify errors and violations. This is systematic and uncompromising work,” Deputy Defense Minister Juri Dziguer said in the press release.