Umerov: Over $260 million in violations discovered at Defense Ministry

Internal audits and investigations at Ukraine's Defense Ministry over the past four months have uncovered more than 10 billion hyrivnas ($260 million) in violations committed previously, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced, Report informs, citing The Kyiv Independent.

Two major corruption scandals preceded the ousting of previous Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, one regarding inflated prices for food supplies and the other connected to low-quality winter jackets.

When introducing Umerov as Reznikov's successor in September 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named increased transparency in defense procurement as one of the new minister's key tasks.

"One of the priorities of the Defense Ministry team is to clean the system from unscrupulous participants—inside the institution and outside. We are actively working on this in close collaboration with law enforcement agencies: we are eradicating corruption," Umerov said.

The ministry "reacts harshly" to cases of financial violations, he added.