Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov today categorically denied fresh corruption allegations, following Ukrainian media reports that, in the midst of war, the military bought uniforms at inflated prices.

According to the investigation of several Ukrainian media, the Ministry of Defense signed a contract in 2022 with a Turkish company that would supply Kiev with winter military uniforms. However, their price tripled after the signing of the agreement. Ukrainian journalists claim that such uniforms could be purchased from Turkey at prices much lower than those paid by the ministry to this company. One of the company’s owners is reportedly Oleksandr Kasai, nephew of Gennady Kasai who is a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party.

Reznikov denied these “false accusations”, assuring that the prices quoted corresponded to those offered by the manufacturers of the uniforms in Turkey. “I call on the whole world to deal with this information in a more critical and responsible spirit, because it challenges society and, worse, it challenges our partners because, when someone is outside, they would say that this is a disaster. Everything was done in accordance with the law on public contracts” and “with the tendering process”, the minister said in a press conference he gave.

This is the second corruption scandal involving military procurement to rock the defense ministry since the start of the war in February 2022. In late January, several high-ranking officials were dismissed after the press revealed that prices had been inflated in a contract signed by the ministry to buy food for the soldiers. Reznikov had admitted at the time that anti-corruption agencies “failed in their work”.

In early August, President Zelenskiy fired all local officials of conscription offices in an effort to end a network of corruption that allowed some to avoid conscription.