Ukraine Uncovers Major Corruption Scheme In Drone Procurement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo Credit: Ukraine Presidential Press Service

 August 3, 2025

By EurActiv

By Jeremias Lin

(EurActiv) — Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have arrested a lawmaker and former officials over an alleged defence procurement kickback scheme, just days after parliament restored the independence of key anti-graft bodies.

Kyiv’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have unveiled a scheme involving inflated contracts for military  drones and signal-jamming systems. 

According to media reports, kickbacks were reportedly up to 30% of contract costs, involving a corruption network connected to a sitting lawmaker, two local officials, and several National Guard personnel. 

Four arrests have been made so far, including MP Oleksii Kuznetsov, a member of Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party. Other exposed officials include Serhii Haidai (former Luhansk governor) and Andrii Yurchenko (head of Luhansk Oblast’s Rubizhne district), Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing law enforcement sources. 

The bribery scheme allegedly diverted funds intended for the procurement of drones and electronic warfare equipment, NABU said. 

The arrests come at a politically delicate moment. Just days earlier, parliament reversed a controversial reform that had placed NABU and SAPO under the control of the prosecutor general – a post appointed by the president.

The move had sparked Ukraine’s largest protests since the start of Russia’s invasion and drew swift criticism from EU leaders. The independence of anti-corruption institutions is a key requirement for EU accession candidate status, which Kyiv was granted in June 2022.

After the arrests, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram that he was “grateful to the anti-corruption bodies for their work,” adding that the new law ensures they can “work independently” with “all the opportunities for a real fight against corruption.”

Ukrainian Customs Chief’s Lavish Lifestyle Sparks Corruption Concerns – Analysis

Anatoliy Komar at work, in a photo posted on the Ukrainian Customs Service Facebook page. Credit: RFE/RL

 July 31, 2025  

By RFE RL

By Heorhiy Shabayev, Schemes and Ray Furlong

(RFE/RL) — An RFE/RL investigation has revealed that the family of a senior Ukrainian customs chief has a portfolio of luxury  real estate and cars while also enjoying a luxury lifestyle amid concerns over corruption that have sparked Ukraine’s biggest protests since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

The findings come in a report by Schemes, the investigations unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, raising questions about the lifestyle of 44-year-old Anatoliy Komar and his family, as well as how it was all paid for.

The case also underlines why ordinary Ukrainians and Western governments have pushed Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to reverse a law that took away the independence of the country’s leading anti-corruption bodies.

Komar became head of the Customs Service department that levies duties on imports and exports of oil, gas, and other energy in February 2022, just before Moscow’s all-out invasion.

Soon after, he was also tasked with preventing prohibited Russian fuel entering the Ukrainian market. Prior to working at the Customs Service, he had a 20-year career at Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and a spell at a private energy company.

In addition to Komar’s monthly salary of about $2,000, the family’s main income comes from his wife, Maria, who works as a tour guide and offers online courses. Her declared income is much higher, at around $8,000 per month.

But a detailed look at the family outgoings suggests a much higher income would be required to support their lifestyle.

For example, the couple have officially declared that their daughter lives in Ukraine, but this does not appear to be the case.

In May 2023, she posted a photo on social media showing her graduation from the Pascal English School Larnaka on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, which had annual fees for education and accommodation of nearly $30,000.

Her social media feed also shows her at a Van Gogh exhibition in London, jet skiing in Albania, and enjoying visits to Venice, Dublin, and Montreux. This year, she appears to be studying at King’s College London, where undergraduate tuition fees for non-UK students alone are nearly $35,000 per year.

‘Wealthy Godfather’

Asked to explain how this was financed, Komar told RFE/RL that he would not comment on personal matters. When pressed, he said it was paid for by a “godfather” who was a “fairly wealthy person,” but did not elaborate.

Komar has a different explanation for the Mercedes he drives. His official property declaration states that his wife rents it. When RFE/RL asked how much this cost, Komar refused to say.

He’s been using the car since 2021. Three car-rental companies told RFE/RL that the S-class would have cost $6,000 a month back in 2018.

This alone would be a huge expense, but here the plot thickens.

The car is registered to a renewable energy firm called the Primorskiy Energy Generating Company. Its tax reports show it has earned some $14,000 over the last three years from renting out vehicles.

It has three cars, but even if it only rented out Komar’s, this would make just $360 per month, some 16 times less than the market price.

The director of the company, Roman Vorabel, told RFE/RL that hiring its cars would be “expensive” before saying he needed to speak to a lawyer before answering any further questions. He then stopped answering the phone.

Komar’s wife, Maria, said she would answer questions in writing, but has not done so.

Meanwhile, the family’s property portfolio also raises question marks.

In 2021, Komar became the owner of an apartment in a Kyiv residential complex worth some $90,000.

But the family do not live there. In 2020, they moved into another apartment purchased by Maria’s father, Serhiy Hladkov.

Indeed, the family claims to have received various types of support from relatives, including nearly $50,000 from Maria’s mother, Lidia, in 2021, and nearly $70,000 from her grandmother.

But 69-year-old Serhiy Hladkov’s role stands out.

In February 2025, he completed construction of a sprawling 450-square-meter house on land in the village of Vyshenky, near Kyiv.

The value of the home, which includes a swimming pool, two kitchens, and space for staff, is estimated at more than $1 million. This is without costs of appliances, furniture, or plumbing, according to architects interviewed by RFE/RL.

Hladkov also spends money on cars, including a 2024 Volvo XC90 worth nearly $50,000.

Math Doesn’t Add Up

Komar told RFE/RL he did not know where Hladkov got his money from. Hladkov told RFE/RL he had earned the money and then hung up.

According to information that RFE/RL obtained from sources with access to income tax data, Hladkov worked at a state-owned metalworking plant in Chernivtsi from 1998 to 2009, having an official salary of less than $200 per month.

Later, in 2019, aged 63, he became self-employed and recorded a rapid increase in earnings, making a total of nearly $400,000 by March 2025.

Hladkov’s wife, Lidia Hladkova, has a similar story.

After a modest salary during her entire working life, she became self-employed and made a total of nearly $180,000. The couple were registered as organizers of congresses and trade fairs.

Lidia Hladkova declined to comment.

Even if they had not spent any money in their entire lives, these earnings would not have been enough for the villa in Vyshenky. Yet the couple were also able to purchase the apartment where Komar lives, and another one nearby, as well as allegedly provide the gifted cash to Komar’s family.

As well as finding that the math doesn’t add up, RFE/RL’s investigation also uncovered another association of Komar that raised questions.

Komar is president of an amateur soccer team in his home town, Rokyta, in the Poltava region. It is sponsored by a company, VM Groupe, which imports petroleum products. Ukrainian law enforcement is investigating it for multimillion dollar tax evasion. The SBU is investigating it for the suspected import of Russian raw materials.

Anti-corruption campaigner Serhiy Mytkalyk told RFE/RL that Komar could be in conflict of interest, given that he heads a state body that oversees taxes on energy imports and exports.

“It is necessary to check all the decisions that [Komar] made in favor of this company,” he said. “Law enforcement officers can even check for illegal benefits.”

Komar told RFE/RL he had in no way assisted VM Groupe or its owner.

• Heorhiy Shabayev is a journalist with Schemes (Skhemy), an investigative news project run by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. He is a graduate of the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the author of a dozen investigations into corruption in the government, the construction industry, and in large state-owned enterprises.
• Schemes (Skhemy) is the award-winning investigative project of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. Launched in 2014, it has exposed high-level corruption and abuse of power for over a decade. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the project expanded to uncovering Russian war crimes.
• Ray Furlong is a Senior International Correspondent for RFE/RL. He has reported for RFE/RL from the Balkans, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and elsewhere since joining the company in 2014. He previously worked for 17 years for the BBC as a foreign correspondent in Prague and Berlin, and as a roving international reporter across Europe and the former Soviet Union.

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RFE/RL journalists report the news in 21 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established.