In January, Ukraine was again shaken by large-scale corruption scandals, primarily related to the Defense Ministry. Against this background, Volodymyr Zelensky stepped up his pleas to Western countries to send more money and more weapons to his beleaguered regime in Kiev.

Back at the end of 2023, Zelensky demanded that Ukrainian journalists keep quiet about emerging data on the state of corruption in the country's economy and state institutions, fearing that the information would scare off current Western lenders and potential, additional lenders. Yuliya Mostovaya, editor in chief of the Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli, summed up the president's words delivered to a conference for journalists and editors in late 2023: "He said to keep quiet until victory. But if we keep silent, there will be no victory." 

However, there is no hiding the truth. Corruption scandals have been steadily creeping into the reports by Ukrainian as well as Western media, damaging Zelensky's image at home and, to a more limited extent, abroad. As a result, the Ukrainian authorities have begun threatening even pro-Western and nationalist journalists deemed too critical. These journalists face familiar accusations of spreading "Kremlin propaganda" to those levied since 2014 against critical voices in media. In some recent cases, journalists deemed critical have been conscripted into the armed forces and thrown into the front lines. Nearly two years ago, the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Kiev regime to exempt journalists from military conscription.

Yuriy Nikolov is the founder of the investigative journalism project Nashi Groszy ('Our Money'). Last year, he investigated corruption in purchases by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), including of food products that were priced three times higher than prevailing market prices. He wrote on Telegram on January 15 that people came to his house, banging on the door and telling him to present himself. He wasn't home, but his frightened, elderly mother was. The vigilantes left threatening notes on his door, including saying he should immediately be conscripted into military service. His note on Telegram explains, "One year ago, Reznikov [then-defense minister Oleksii Reznikov] asked the SBU [Ukraine secret police] to open a case against me for undermining Ukraine's defense because of my article on corruption in military procurements. In the end, Reznikov was fired [on September 5, 2023] and I was not imprisoned. Now I see that some have decided to change this approach."

Corruption scandals cost Oleksiy Reznikov his appointment as defense minister of Ukraine last year. However, the new minister, Rustem Umerov, said in mid-January that an audit of the defense ministry revealed other, larger corruption violations, worth more than 10 billion hryvnias (US$297 million) in the preceding four months alone. 

In January, new details of a fraud related to the procurement of food for the AFU became known. A colonel from the AFU Logistics Force, Oleksandr Kozlovskyy, is suspected of embezzling 170m hryvnias (US$4.5 million) in foodstuffs.

In particular, he purchased products from his wife's firm 'Eco Trade Service'. In the contract for the supply of products, the ministry waived claims in advance if the products were not delivered. The owners of the contracted firms created the appearance of providing the military with food packages and received money for the allegedly performed services, but the products were not delivered.

In the summer of 2023, Oleksandr Kozlovskyi, a colonel in the AFU, purchased 47 land plots in Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnitsa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr and Poltava regions, becoming a sort of landlord. Ukrainian journalists from the above-mentioned Nashi Groszy, call Kozlovskyy a ‘rat’, believing that such a scheme could not have worked without the patronage of the top brass in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

The other day, the Ukrainian defense ministry also reported that former Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov seemingly went for a 'record' and received his fourth investigation for corruption. This time he stole almost one billion hryvnias intended to be spent on body armor. It turns out that the 'body armor' was a mere cheap imitation that could be penetrated by any shrapnel and any bullet.The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) of Ukraine said in a press release, "The products, according to the conclusions of forensic ballistic and commodity studies, did not allow their use by AFU servicemen for their intended purpose due to non-compliance with standards. This jeopardized the life and health of our soldiers on the front line,". 

Late last year, the same Shapovalov was investigated for a billion-hryvnia expenditure for winter uniforms. These turned out not to be winter uniforms at all; they were summer jackets purchased in Turkey, but the price of winter wear.

"The AFU military cannot use the said uniforms because they are unsuitable for use in the cold season," the case file says. In other words, thanks to Shapovalov, AFU servicemen found themselves in the trenches in winter with only summer jackets to protect them and ofttimes with only cardboard bulletproof vests. Thanks to the likes of Kozlovsky, Ukrainian soldiers are often compelled to live off marauding.

Investigations of corruption cases in Ukraine typically take years and rarely lead to criminal convictions.

A scandal related to Igor Hrynkevich, an associate of Aleksei Reznikov and a friend of former British prime minister Boris Johnson, has not quieted down since last year when it happened. Grinkevich was detained last year while attempting to pay a US$500,000 bribe to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). Earlier, his company had won 23 tenders for the supply of clothing and underwear for the AFU, totaling 1.5 billion hryvnias. The clothing was not delivered and Hrynkevich's business, it turns out, has nothing at all to do with tailoring or clothing manufacture. 

The U.S. Defense Department admitted in January that it had been unable to trace where some 40,000 weapons worth more than one billion US dollars supplied to Ukraine have gone. 

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Amid all these major, new corruption scandals, Zelensky has, literally, issued a form of political blackmail to his regime's Western partners. He stated during an official visit to Lavia on January 11 that without continued financial aid to his government, "Ukrainian pensioners will simply die". By law, pensioners receive their financial benefits from the tax contributions to the national pension fund of Ukraine, to which all those being paid a salary are obliged to contribute, including military personnel. But Zelensky said in Latvia, "Even when there is no funding, we cannot fail to give pensioners a pension. I'm not pushing pity right now.... but we cannot fail [to pay pension benefits], it's simply impossible because old people will die. We have more than 11 million pensioners in the country." The irony is that even if Zelensky's words are followed and more Western aid is sent, Ukrainian pensioners are unlikely to see any benefit improvements or other relief. The governing regime in Kyiv spends some 60 per cent of its funds on its armed forces, and that doesn't include spending on police and border guards. 

The self-confidence of Zelensky and his entourage comes from the conviction that Ukraine is defending the interests of the West, so the West owes them everything possible. The Odessa anarchist Vyacheslav Azarov wrote in his Telegram channel recently, "The main problem of the current government in Ukraine is not a shortage of ammunition or manpower, but 'puffery', that is, inflated egos and devotion to self-esteem and importance. Of course, this is the birthmark of any nationalism, but in our country, it has been inflated to global proportions. There is the belief that our country of Ukraine is the most important acquisition for the West, with Ukrainians being dear and welcome guests there. Therefore, we defend the entire Western civilization, and in exchange, it will forever feed, supply and rebuild us in exchange. 

However, in his opinion, with the outbreak of war against Gaza and now against Yemen, Ukraine is further falling off the international agenda and coming to play a role as a peripheral and corrupt capitalism, supported on a residual principle and only in order to save the face of its Western allies. 

In such a situation, the Ukrainian authorities are constantly thinking about what else they can 'sell' to the West in order to maintain high levels of attention and financial and military support.

In mid-January, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine legislature) approved a highly controversial law which tightens military enlistment procedures and also happens to violate the Ukrainian constitution. According to the bill, an electronic record of Ukrainians subject to military service will be introduced and will see the personal data of all Ukrainians stored on servers in NATO countries. Personal data--phone numbers, e-mail addresses, data on trips within the country and abroad, financial expenses, medical cards, foreign language skills—all this and more will be collected and transferred from Ukraine state registers without the consent of Ukrainian citizens. The amended law states that a person's consent to the processing of his data in this register is NOT required.

"It is impossible to imagine placing private and confidential information on servers abroad," says Ukrainian MP Roman Kostenko, a critic of the changes to the conscription law. The Chief Scientific and Expert Department (CSED) of the Verkhovna Rada notes that according to part 2 of Article 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the collection, storage, use and dissemination of confidential information about a person is not illegal, not allowed.

UK government reaffirms its commitment to war in Ukraine

On January 12, Zelensky's website published the text of the agreement which he recently concluded with the British prime minister focusing on "security guarantees" that Britain is to provide to Ukraine. The agreement is valid for ten years and is being presented in Ukraine as some kind of alternative to diminishing prospects for NATO membership. However, it does not contain any obligations for Britain to militarily intervene on the side of Ukraine in the present conflict or in any future one. Britain commits only to 'consultations' within 24 hours of any new, declared military emergency. It does re-commit to providing military assistance as well as sanctions against Russia.

The word 'guarantee' appears only once in the agreement, and it is in the context of Ukrainian obligations, not British ones. The section titled 'Defense Industry Cooperation' states, "The UK will work with Ukraine to strengthen protection of the transferred [military] technologies and intellectual property rights. At the same time, Ukraine guarantees the protection of these technologies and intellectual property."

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also did not use the word 'guarantee' in his comments to media about the agreement. He emphasized several times in his comments the "security assurances" language of the agreement.

In contrast, item seven of the Francovich agreement states that Ukraine must intervene militarily on the side of Britain if Britain is deemed to be threatened. "The Participants will seek to ensure that Ukraine's military capabilities are at such a level that, in the event of external military aggression against the United Kingdom, Ukraine is able to provide effective military assistance."Thus does the Ukraine regime undertake to defend British interests militarily, hence turning itself Francovich into something resembling a private military company. 

According to the Ukrainian telegram channel 'ZeRada', Sunak has received the Order of Freedom from Zelensky. It describes the agreement between the two countries as worse than the infamous trading with Indigenous populations by European colonizers once upon a time which saw glass beads and other trinkets exchanged for valuables such as gold, jewels and territories. 'ZeRada' calls the agreement an opportunity for Ukrainians to die at their own expense while defending the interests of the British Empire.

As for 'Great' Britain, the country is reportedly facing a recruitment crisis to its Royal Navy in the year 2024. The British military as a whole currently has its lowest number of active-duty personnel, The Telegraph reported in December 2023, citing UK Ministry of Defence data. The U.S. faces a similar problem with its military recruitment. Zelensky appears only too willing to sell to both of them Ukrainian lives in the service of imperialist missions overseas. 

U.S.-Chilean journalist dies in Ukraine prison following abuse and ill-treatment

In January, it became known that American-Chilean journalist Gonzalo Lira died in a prison in Kharkiv, Ukraine following his arrest in May 2023. He died on January 11 from ill-treatment and a serious case of pneumonia which went all-but untreated. 

A report in the Helsinki Times on January 13 explained, "Gonzalo Lira gained notoriety in 2022 as a vocal critic of what he perceived as increasing authoritarianism in Ukraine. Lira saw the conflict [in Ukraine] as a proxy war waged by U.S. against Russia and he criticized the losses of Ukrainian lives in a futile and unwinnable war."

Lira, born in 1968, was arrested under accusation of undermining Ukraine's military defense. His postings on social media as well as postings by others, including his father, detailed his ordeal in prison, including allegations of torture, ill treatment, and attempted extortion of $70,000. The last communication from Lira hinted at the risk of him being sent to a labor camp.

Lira's father wrote on Twitter/X on January 12: "The responsibility of this tragedy is [with] the dictator Zelensky, with the concurrence of a senile American President, Joe Biden. My pain is unbearable. The world must know what is going on in Ukraine with that inhuman dictator Zelensky."