One-third of humanitarian aid in Ukraine disappeared en route to military units – customs of Ukraine

In Ukraine, a third of humanitarian aid has gone missing en route to military units.

This information was reported by the customs service, which conducted an investigation in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Out of 9,000 cases examined over the course of nine months this year, more than 3,000 instances of aid not reaching 200 military units were identified. These findings have been handed over to law enforcement agencies.

Previously, journalists had revealed incidents such as a massive underground warehouse with unverified humanitarian goods in the Lviv region in April. Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security identified the individuals involved in the import and storage of this humanitarian aid. Importing such a large cargo would have required approximately 60 freight trucks, and these movements could not have gone unnoticed.

In June, the Ministry of Defense reported that, in collaboration with the State Customs Service, they had recorded over 650 cases of missing humanitarian aid for the military just since the beginning of the year.

“From January to May 2023, the Ministry of Defense and the State Customs Service conducted joint inspections of over 5,000 instances of humanitarian aid goods moving to approximately 100 military units. In 653 cases, the receipt of such humanitarian aid was not confirmed. This includes items like body armor plates, night vision devices, thermal imagers, drones, vehicles, and other goods and equipment,” as stated in the Ministry of Defense’s internal audit department’s announcement.

It’s possible that this is only the tip of the iceberg, as investigations are ongoing.