It’s little comfort to struggling Americans who learned this month that more than $1 billion in weapons provided to Ukraine by the Biden administration was improperly tracked by U.S. defense and diplomatic officials.
Employees of a Ukrainian arms firm and officials from the nation’s defense ministry joined forces to embezzle nearly $40 million in war funds. The money was meant to purchase 100,000 mortar shells for the country’s ongoing war with Russia, according to Ukraine’s security service (SBU).
Five people have been charged for the theft, the SBU stated on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. One was nabbed while trying to cross the Ukrainian border. If convicted, they each face up to a dozen years behind bars.
Many “conspiracy theorists” have long spoken of Ukraine’s corruption, but if Kyiv wants to be welcomed into the European Union and NATO anytime soon, it has to clean up its act.
“Officials from both blocs have demanded widespread anti-graft reforms before Kyiv can join them,” AP reports.
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