The United States on Tuesday promised to closely monitor how Ukraine spends billions of dollars in aid money after a damaging corruption scandal led to a spate of resignations in Kyiv.
While Washington said it had no evidence Western funds were being misused, US State Department spokesman Ned Price promised there would be “rigorous monitoring” to ensure American aid is not being diverted.
Several senior Ukrainian officials were fired on Tuesday following a corruption scandal involving illegal payments to deputy ministers and over-inflated military contracts.
In addition to the deputy head of the presidential administration and the deputy attorney general, a total of five regional governors, four deputy ministers and two heads of a government agency left their offices.
In his late-night address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the purge was “necessary” to maintain “a strong state,” while Price called it “rapid” and “essential.”
Still, the scandal comes at a sensitive time for Kyiv as it seeks ever-greater Western support and opposes Russian advances in the East.
Corruption could dampen Western enthusiasm for Ukraine’s government, which has a long history of shaky governance.
Over the weekend, anti-corruption police arrested the deputy infrastructure minister on suspicion of receiving a €367,000 bribe to buy overpriced generators, an allegation he denies.
This comes at a time when Ukrainian civilians are suffering prolonged power outages amid crippling Russian attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian newspaper accused the defense ministry of signing contracts to supply food to front-line troops at “two to three times” the regular price.
According to analysts, the high-profile resignations show that corruption bears not only a criminal but also a political responsibility.
“It’s a good example of how institutions and anti-corruption and checks-and-balance mechanisms were put in place after the [2014 Maidan] The dignity revolution is working despite a full-fledged war,” Kateryna Ryzhenko of Transparency International Ukraine, an anti-corruption NGO, told Euronews.
“But the latter part of these events should be played out by the prosecution, investigative agency and court when these cases are decided to the fullest extent of the law,” she added.
Ukraine’s defense ministry, which allegedly signed overpriced contracts worth €320 million, said the resignations would help “maintain the confidence of society and international partners.”
On Sunday it dismissed the allegations as “misinformation” and warned that they harmed “defense interests at a special time”.
In January, the leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic branded Western aid to Ukraine a “money-laundering scheme.”
“I see some are concerned about foreign aid to Ukraine. Do not worry! This is a working money laundering scheme. Western and Ukrainian officials will embezzle these funds, and no more than 15% of all aid will end up in the trenches. ‘ Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.
There is no evidence for this claim on the part of the staunch Putin ally.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 on promises of far-reaching reforms to fight corruption and improve the economy.
During his tenure, Ukraine’s president fired scores of ministers and officials as he fought the malicious influence of powerful people in the country.