Ukraine Made Corruption Arrests Due to Military Procurement

On August 3rd, Ukrainian authorities arrested many officials due to suspicion of corruption, connected to a massive bribery plan including military procurement.

A few days after the announcement, President Zelensky undid a decision to weaken the anticorruption groups under a lot of domestic and international pressure—the arrests came days after President Volodymyr Zelensky changed his mind about trying to take power from anticorruption groups.

Last month, the president passed a law that gave his administrative control over the two anti–corruption groups, which led to public protests. People in Ukraine held protests for the first time since Russia’s invasion in 2022 after Mr. Zelensky’s actions against the watchdogs.

Mr. Zelensky thanked the groups for their work in the military procurement case in a statement on Saturday night. He went out of his way to state the importance of the groups’ independent status, three days after Parliament had voted to bring back their independence.

The anticorruption groups had told Mr. Zelensky about a military procurement scheme they had found. A member of Parliament, the heads of district and city military civil administrations, and multiple National Guard servicemen were involved. No further details were provided.

The agencies — National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office — stated that four people had been arrested due to a major corruption investigation involving the purchase of drones and electronic jamming equipment for the military.

The statement also added, “The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices — up to 30 percent of the contract amount was returned to the participants in the crime.”

Since the agencies had been investigating top ministers in his government, and Zelensky had weakened the groups, people accused him of cronyism.

While large protests were happening and Ukraine’s European allies heavily criticized him, President Zelensky changed his mind and introduced a new law to bring back the anticorruption groups’ independence; Parliament passed the law on Thursday.

On Saturday, President Zelensky stated, “There can only be zero tolerance for corruption.”