While hundreds of soldiers die on the front every day, during that time, those who have money could buy their freedom, their lives. Anyone who can pay five, ten or fifteen thousand dollars will not be taken to the front. He receives a certificate that he is unfit for military service and can leave the country. Ukrainian gallows humor calls them the Monaco battalion.
Not by chance, since wealthy Ukrainians like to buy expensive properties in the South of France. But Italy, Austria, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are also popular. The managers of the regional recruiting offices have already become multi-million dollar millionaires since the outbreak of the war. President Zelensky announced that corruption cases committed during wartime will be sanctioned as treason in the future. And the Ukrainian parliament voted in an accelerated procedure on the legislation on the disclosure of the assets of parliamentarians.
It is true that the introduction of the law was postponed for a year. Obviously, for the success of the fight against corruption...
The opinion of The New York Times is that this is Ukraine's real problem. According to their data, almost one billion dollars of American aid intended for weapons and ammunition disappeared. Therefore, President Zelenskyi was also forced to act. He dismissed the head of all the recruiting offices. In a rambling speech, he wondered what was going on there. Which is hardly believable, since the military countermeasures had to report on these abuses a long time ago. If he did not, then the leadership of the service should have been relieved, but this did not happen. Apparently, due to Western pressure, the president was also forced to fire his defense minister. He already announced this once in the spring, but then, tellingly, nothing happened. Then the food costs of the soldiers were overbilled at three times the price, and now the purchase of winter clothing. The triple multiplier is the constant, obviously this way everyone involved could get their share. Zelenskyi's mentor, Ihor Kolomoisky, was also arrested just a few days ago, even though the United States has already imposed sanctions on him for corruption in 2021.
Behind the arrest of the oligarch, several people suspect that the Ukrainian president is trying to protect his discoverer and mentor in this way.
After all, a few days before the official action, the Ukrainian parliament made the decision that the Security Service of Ukraine (SZBU) will be the competent investigative authority in priority corruption cases. And the president decides what he considers to be priority corruption. However, according to the news, the SZBU is controlled by the president manually. So, I wouldn't be surprised if Kolomoisky's arrest serves to protect him. At least as long as the interests of the president so desire. Perhaps we are not far from the truth if we assume that this tactic did not go down well with Western supporters. So they also took out a card from the deck that they had been keeping secret until now. They threw out, hiding behind an Egyptian investigative journalist, that Zelensky's mother-in-law bought a villa on the coast of the Red Sea for five million dollars after the war broke out. Because his villa in Tuscany was no longer enough.
Terrible war victims and immeasurable corruption. This strange duality characterizes Ukraine today, and it can also have a decisive effect on the outcome of the war.
Perhaps if President Zelenskiy did not try to abolish independent Hungarian education, but had one of his advisers read the Eger Stars, for example, he would learn: "The strength of the walls is not in the stone, but in the souls of the defenders."
Featured image: Magyar Nemzet / András Éberling
