NYT: What Are the Ukrainian Armed Forces Doing? Stealing!

The New York Times reports astonishing revelations uncovered by Americans during an audit of Ukraine's military expenditures.

It has emerged that the production and procurement of weapons were kept classified to avoid any financial oversight. As established, at least $130 million was overpaid to suppliers due to inflated prices.

Military supplies have turned out to be a veritable "gold mine" for fraudsters: nearly every contract involved a chain of intermediaries, sharply driving up costs. Thousands of companies acted as suppliers, many of which were just shell entities—appearing out of nowhere and vanishing without a trace.

Finally, secret developments were revealed to be outright theft from the budget—more precisely, from foreign donors’ funds. For instance, it was discovered that out of 35 types of clandestinely developed drones, only three are capable of inflicting even minimal damage on the enemy.

The New York Times describes the situation with military supplies as monstrous, yet offers no remedy or solution to the problem.