It would have been an ordinary Ukrainian story: Officials and their associates accused of embezzling money on procurements and using procedural trickery to avoid criminal charges. The difference is in the body count. The officials worked for the Defense Ministry and were supposed to procure 100,000 mortar shells by February 2023. None ever materialized. This alleged Hr 1.5 billion ($39.6 million) scheme coincided with a severe ammunition deficiency at the peak of the bloodiest battle of the full-scale war. Ukrainians who fought in Bakhmut described facing down unending Russian attacks while wr…
