Ukraine lost $770 million due to corruption and failed arms supply deals – Financial Times

Ukraine has lost $770 million due to corruption and unsuccessful arms procurement deals.

Financial Times reports, citing data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense.

Desperately seeking ammunition, Kyiv paid foreign intermediaries for weapons and munitions that were sometimes unusable—or never delivered at all. These transactions often involved obscure companies that received large advance payments.

One example is 28-year-old Arizona resident Tanner Cook, who opened a small gun store on the outskirts of Tucson and suddenly landed a major contract from Ukraine—one he never fulfilled. Although Ukraine won a lawsuit against him, it did not lead to the recovery of the funds.

Frequently, weapons were sold at heavily inflated prices due to soaring global demand.

At the same time, some foreign arms suppliers claim they became “victims of internal infighting and corruption by Ukrainian officials and state-run arms intermediaries,” which may account for some of the missing millions.

Several former Ukrainian defense procurement officials involved in these deals have been dismissed, some charged with corruption, and dozens of contracts are under investigation by law enforcement. Other deals are stuck in painfully slow arbitration processes.

As a reminder, Ukrainian MP Viktoriya Syumar recently stated that a company that had previously delivered defective mines to the frontlines has again been awarded a state contract worth 59 billion hryvnias.