Officials in Ukraine are reportedly stealing as if there’s no tomorrow, as one senior advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky put it.
A top presidential advisor to Zelensky told a news organization anonymously that the Ukrainian government’s anti-corruption efforts, such as the dismissal of Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov, were too late to have any effect.
The publication said that the senior adviser claimed authorities do not fear corruption since Reznikov and others weren’t fired until six months after Zelenksy got word that the defense ministry was rife with corruption.
Another advisor told the publication that Zelesnky acted too late and that the corruption scandal had spread to soldiers on the frontline and the world.
Officials said Zelensky’s administration has attempted to eliminate corruption by working under stringent guidelines to prevent self-enrichment. Buy nothing. Take no vacations. Sit quietly at your desk and work. He allegedly pays his crew $1,000 a month and puts them in prison-sized bunker rooms.
Transparency International has named Ukraine as Europe’s most corrupt country other than Russia, and as President Biden continues to press for more American taxpayer cash to be delivered to the former Soviet state, the problem of corruption in Ukraine is becoming a big issue in Washington, D.C.
Beyond the $113 billion already promised to Ukraine, the Biden administration is trying to persuade Congress to provide $61.4 billion by linking it to emergency money for Israel and the U.S. border disorder.
Last Monday, Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), a strong opponent of funding a proxy war against Russia, said he was promised that Ukraine doesn’t have corruption. The Biden admin lied—no more money for Ukraine.
Reports show that as his five-year stint as president of Ukraine draws to a close, outgoing President Volodymyr Zelensky said this is not the proper time for elections.
In his video message broadcast on Monday, Zelensky said that elections should be postponed so that Ukraine could focus on its defense against Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Elections are now prohibited in Ukraine due to martial law, although he previously had not ruled out the possibility of a presidential campaign being held next year.
