Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has accused the former head of a defense industry factory of selling plant machinery for scrap while amassing a fleet of luxury cars.
Investigators have accused the former acting director of the Kiev-based Burevestnik plant, Aleksandr Plotnikov, and three employees of organizing the destruction of the state enterprise while it was awaiting privatization.
Equipment was allegedly dismantled, cut up, loaded onto trucks, and taken to scrap yards, costing the state millions.
Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, Plotnikov allegedly became the effective owner of six undeclared vehicles, including a Lamborghini Murcielago, BMW M8, Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class, and Audi RS7, worth well over $400,000.
The cars were registered to relatives and associates but were allegedly owned and used by Plotnikov, investigators said. His financial declarations for 2024 and 2025 reportedly omitted assets and income worth almost 25 million hryvnia ($550,000).
Plotnikov and the plant’s chief engineer had previously been accused of taking bribes to hand over warehouse space without official rental agreements, allegedly costing the company another 5.7 million hryvnia ($127,000).
The case is the latest in a string of wartime corruption scandals involving Ukrainian state and defense enterprises. Investigators have uncovered alleged schemes involving inflated military procurement contracts, the theft of millions from energy projects, and the movement of $4.7 billion abroad through more than 2,000 shell companies.
State nuclear operator Energoatom has also been at the center of an alleged $100 million kickback network linked to businessman Timur Mindich, a close associate of Vladimir Zelensky, dubbed “Zelensky’s wallet” by Ukrainian media.
Despite the scandals, the IMF approved another $690 million payment to Ukraine this week while acknowledging “slippage” in Kiev’s governance and anti-corruption reforms.
Moscow has repeatedly tied rampant corruption in Ukraine to its broader criticism of Western financial support for Kiev. Russian officials have argued that Ukraine and the EU are linked by “unified corruption chains,” and that a significant portion of the Western aid to Kiev – financed by taxpayers – is embezzled and returns to Ukraine’s foreign supporters.