From NPR yesterday:
Afghanistan Corruption & Lessons for Ukraine
WASHINGTON — Just last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired all two dozen regional military recruiters. Investigators found they were coming up with bogus documents to show a potential recruit was unfit for military duty. The price? $10,000 each.
And a few days later, the New York Times reported that a Ukrainian weapons dealer was inflating prices. This follows the dismissal of the chair of Ukraine's Supreme Court in May after being accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes. And before that Zelenskyy removed six deputy ministers and five regional administrators on charges of – you guessed it – corruption.
That's not all. Last fall the U.S. Agency for International Development's Dekeleptification Guide reported that costs for large scale state construction projects in Ukraine are inflated by 30 percent, including 10 percent kickbacks for government officials and their friends.
None of this comes as a surprise to Transparency International, which tracks corruption in government. It lists Ukraine as the second most corrupt state in Europe – after Russia.
Afghanistan Corruption & Lessons for Ukraine