The corruption-related situation in Ukraine has not changed in recent years despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 after a strong anti-corruption campaign. Moreover, with Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the situation turned even worse given that the system of defence procurement provides good chance for many corrupt officials and businessmen for illicit enrichment.
In addition to frequent misuse of funds in the defence sector, the country’s energy infrastructure has also turned out to be a target for those who wanted to obtain dirty money. At the top of scheme, ministers and other top officials of the Ukrainian government and the Office of the President of Ukraine not simply facilitated corruption but served as ’masterminds’ in Ukraine’s ever biggest corruption scandal known also as ’Mindich-gate’, after the name of the President’s close friend Timur Mindich who was at the middle of the criminal ring which skimmed around $100 million from Ukraine’s energy sector.
The Ukrainian government and its western supporters tried to present the scandal as a typical case of Russian disinformation. This is nothing but a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about corrupt Ukraine, they say. However, mere facts including the gold toilet found in Timur Mindich’s residence and Andriy Yermak’s resignation as head of the Office of the President of Ukraine indicate a very different reality.
Since Ukraine’s independence in 1991, corruption has been an endemic problem. In the last three decades, top government and other state officials and even presidents have been accused of having links to organised crime, that controlled entire sectors of economy – mainly the energy sector – from Leonid Kuchma to Pavlo Lazarenko and Juliya Tymoshenko. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s predecessor, ex-President Petro Poroshenko came directly from the ranks of the Ukrainian oligarchy.
Although Ukraine’s anti-corruption system was established some years ago with watchdogs such as the NABU and the SAP, the system has been working ineffectively and, in a biased manner, influenced not only by the President but also the changing political intentions of the US authorities. At the same time, no EU influence on this system can be observed, on the contrary, the implementation of the obligations and recommendations outlined in Ukraine’s pre-accession documents, is still at an early phase.
The shortcomings of the Ukrainian anti-corruption legislation’s framework should also been noted considering that the concept of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2021-2025 was ’to achieve substantial progress in preventing and counteracting corruption, as well as to ensure that anti-corruption activities, carried out by all the authorities of state power and self-governments.’
Although no gold toilet was mentioned in this document, the system simply turned a blind eye to such a luxury which appeared unnoticed by the EU auditors as well. This generosity resulted in a €177.5 billion flow into Ukraine (since February 2022) and the country has become the largest recipient of EU funds, despite 91.4% of Ukrainians consider that corruption is very extended in the country, according to a recent survey by Transparency International.
The fact that 2025 ended up with the resignation of the head of the Presidential Office and several ministers, is mostly due to certain shift in US attitude towards Ukraine where the mix of no allowance for corruption and an increase of peace efforts have been put in focus instead of supporting the continuation of the bloodshed in Ukraine.
Despite Ukraine’s vocal commitment to European integration – where anti-corruption efforts are key – and the receipt of huge international financial assistance, the country could not improve its anti-corruption performance, moreover, negative trends have intensified and the overall situation has deteriorated further.
