Ukraine security services have searched the home of one of the country's most-prominent billionaires, raided the tax office and smashed a prostitution ring run by migration officials in what the authorities called a wartime anti-corruption purge.
The actions — which came days before a summit with the European Union — appears to reflect determination by Kyiv to demonstrate that it can be a steward of billions of dollars in Western aid and shed its reputation as one of the world's most-corrupt states.
Photos of a home raid posted on social media appeared to show tycoon Ihor Kolomoiskiy — a figure once seen as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's sponsor — dressed in a sweatsuit and looking on in the presence of an SBU security service officer at his home. Reuters could not immediately verify the images' authenticity.
In a statement that did not name Mr Kolomoiskiy, the SBU published the same photos, but with the person's face blurred.
The SBU said it had uncovered the embezzlement of more than $1 billion at Ukraine's biggest oil company, Ukrnafta, and its biggest refiner, Ukrtatnafta.
Mr Kolomoiskiy — who has long denied wrongdoing and could not immediately be reached for comment — once held stakes in both firms, which Mr Zelenskyy ordered seized by the state in November under martial law.
Mr Zelenskyy — who first came to fame as the star of a sitcom on Mr Kolomoiskiy's TV station — has long-promised to rid Ukraine of so-called oligarchs, but had faced accusations that he was unable to move decisively against his former sponsor.
Separate raids were carried out at the tax office, and the home of Arsen Avakov, who led Ukraine's police force as interior minister from 2014 to 2021.
"Every criminal who has the audacity to harm Ukraine, especially in the conditions of war, must clearly understand that we will put handcuffs on his hands," Ukraine's security service chief Vasyl Malyuk was quoted as saying on the SBU Telegram channel.
Authorities smash prostitution ring
Ukraine's SBU security service said on Wednesday it had broken up a prostitution ring run by immigration officials.
The SBU said the ring had been headed by officials of the migration department of the national police, normally responsible for safeguarding the interests of displaced people.
It showed pictures of uniformed officers raiding a building and holding several men in a room as well as large sums of cash and pictures of young women seated on sofas in an apartment.
"These senior officials oversaw a broad 'protection' scheme for prostitution in Kyiv and in other regions," the SBU statement said.
It said their operation generated monthly income equivalent to more than $1.3 million.
The scheme preyed on women aged 18-30 "in a vulnerable, emotional state", with victims sent to clients inside Ukraine and abroad and charging from $20 to $270 for services.
In a nightly video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the security services for their "quick reaction to these shameful developments".
Russia's invasion prompted more than seven million people to leave Ukraine, according to UN figures, although nearly half subsequently returned home.
Kyiv's push for more weapons
The raids came as Kyiv secured huge pledges of weapons from the West over recent weeks that offer new capabilities. The latest, expected this week, include rockets from the United States that would nearly double the firing range of Ukrainian forces.
Underlining Ukraine's need for more advanced arms, the country's deputy defence minister said late on Wednesday that fierce fighting was continuing in the east where, she said, Russia had superiority in numbers of troops and weapons.
The infusion of Western military and financial aid creates new pressure on Mr Zelenskyy to demonstrate his government can clean up Ukraine.
Last week, he purged more than a dozen senior officials after a series of scandals and graft allegations in the biggest shake-up of Ukraine's leadership since the invasion.
After Wednesday's raids, the parliamentary leader of Mr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People Party, David Arakhamia, wrote on Telegram: "The country will change during the war. If someone is not ready for change, then the state itself will come and help them change."
In an address overnight, before the raids, Mr Arakhamia alluded to new, anti-corruption measures in time for Friday's summit, which Kyiv sees as key to its hopes of one day joining the bloc, a more-urgent goal since Russia's invasion almost a year ago.
Ukrainian forces who recaptured territory from Russian troops in the second half of 2022 have seen their advance stall since November.
Kyiv says the key to regaining the initiative is securing advanced Western weaponry.
Long-range missiles
Two US officials said a new, $2 billion package of military aid to be announced as soon as this week would, for the first time, include Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), a new weapon designed by Boeing.
These cheap, gliding missiles can strike targets more than 150 kilometres away, a large increase over the 80km range of the rockets fired by HIMARS systems, which changed the face of the war when Washington sent them last summer.
That would put all of the Russian-occupied territory on Ukraine's mainland — as well as parts of the Crimea peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014 — within range of Kyiv's forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the arrival of longer-range US weapons would escalate the conflict.
Western countries pledged scores of advanced main battle tanks for the first time last week, a breakthrough in support aimed at giving Kyiv the capability to recapture occupied territory this year.
However, the arrival of the new weapons is still months away and, in the meantime, Russia has gained momentum on the battlefield, announcing advances north and south of the city of Bakhmut, its main target for months.
Kyiv disputes many of those claims and Reuters could not independently verify the full situation, but the locations of reported fighting clearly indicate incremental Russian advances.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar — writing on the Telegram messaging app — said that Russian forces were trying to gain ground near the strategic town of Lyman and that, despite heavy losses, were also pressing ahead with an offensive near Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
South of Bakhmut, Russia has also launched a major, new offensive this week on Vuhledar, a longstanding Ukrainian-held bastion at the junction of the southern and eastern front lines. Kyiv says its forces have so far held there.
Reuters
