Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov attends a press conference in Kyiv on Nov. 21, 2023.GLEB GARANICH/Reuters
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has suspended a senior official while authorities investigate suspected corruption in the procurement of weapons, his ministry said on Friday.
Umerov took office last year on a pledge to clean up graft inside the ministry as Ukraine’s Western partners weighed sending more military aid to Kyiv following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Toomas Nakhkur, who led the defence ministry’s department for technical policy and weapons development, was suspended after being named an official suspect in an unspecified criminal case, the ministry wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The decision took effect on Feb. 1, it said.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said last week it had uncovered a scheme by current and former officials as well as businessmen to embezzle around $40 million by securing advance payment for artillery shells that were never provided.
The SBU did not name the suspects, but Ukrainian media identified Nakhkur as one of them. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
Umerov’s predecessor was dismissed last September following several corruption scandals at the defence ministry even he had strong relations with Kyiv’s Western allies.