Ukrainian officials stole millions in drone deals – investigators

The alleged scheme operated at the nation’s cybersecurity agency months before its chief was sacked in a separate graft scandal

Ukrainian officials allegedly stole more than $5 million by purchasing over 5,000 drones for the military at inflated prices, according to anti-corruption investigators.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), which exposed the alleged scheme last year, announced on Tuesday that they completed their investigation. The Western-backed agencies, which frequently target Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s inner-circle, put the losses at 254 million hryvnia ($5.65 million).

The alleged scheme operated from May to September 2023, after Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) received $667 million to purchase drones for the military. Investigators say a department head at the agency, which oversees cybersecurity and secure government communications, rigged contracts for 5,100 drones, paying up to 90% above market prices.

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Investigators froze assets believed to be proceeds of corruption, including more than $4 million held in overseas company accounts and 17 million hryvnia in Ukraine.

Ukrainian media previously identified all five suspects. The alleged ringleader is reportedly Vladimir Mokrenko, a former procurement chief at SSSCIP. His suspected civilian accomplice was identified as Lviv-based businessman Yury Volyan, reportedly the brother of a businesswoman who is a close acquaintance of Mokrenko.

The other suspects reportedly include another SSSCIP official and two private-sector representatives accused of participating in rigged tenders.

The drone procurement scheme coincided with the final months in office of then-SSSCIP chief Yury Shchigol and his deputy, Viktor Zhora, who were fired in November 2023 amid a separate corruption scandal uncovered by NABU. The two were implicated in an alleged scheme that operated from 2020 to 2022 and resulted in $1.72 million in overpayments for software and related services.

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Zhora has also been identified by Ukrainian media as a defendant in a third NABU case involving officials from SSSCIP, the Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund, accused of embezzling public funds through rigged software procurement.

Zelensky’s government has been rocked by a series of corruption scandals involving people close to him since November 2025, when NABU and SAPO accused businessman Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of the Ukrainian leader, of masterminding a $100 million kickback scheme involving state contracts in the energy sector.

Critics accuse Zelensky of presiding over a sprawling corruption network permeating his government, allegedly helping him maintain power and enriching those involved.

NABU’s latest high-profile investigation targeted an alleged protection racket involving scam call centers and officials from the Prosecutor General’s Office. Although he was not personally named as a suspect, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko left Ukraine before being dismissed by parliament last month, according to Ukrainian media. He has denied wrongdoing.