Two major reports have reignited debate over Ukraine’s corruption and Washington’s involvement in the country’s affairs. Both suggest that, despite massive Western funding and years of reform pledges, graft remains entrenched in Kyiv’s political system and defense industry.
A New York Times investigation found that Ukraine’s defense ministry wasted millions on overpriced military contracts, awarding tenders to unqualified firms and paying in advance for equipment that was never delivered. At the same time, newly declassified CIA documents reveal that senior U.S. officials were aware of concerns about the Biden family’s business ties in Ukraine but sought to limit the circulation of related intelligence reports.
The U.S. newspaper—hardly suspected of pro-Russian bias—reported that over $129 million was overspent on contracts with unjustified costs between 2024 and 2025. While auditors stopped short of formally alleging theft, several cases were referred to prosecutors. Government secrecy during wartime has limited oversight of such spending.
This is hardly new. Since the 1990s, Ukraine has consistently ranked among the most corrupt countries in Europe, according to Transparency International. What has changed is the scale of the business: a war economy fueled by Western aid and wrapped in a moral discourse that makes criticism taboo—anyone questioning it risks being branded “pro-Russian.”
Declassified CIA documents confirm what was long dismissed as a ‘conspiracy theory’: that the Obama-Biden administration turned Ukraine into a political and economic playground for its own benefit.
According to these records, in February 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden explicitly requested that a CIA intelligence report—which described Ukrainian officials’ concerns over the “corrupt ties” between his family and local companies—not be distributed. Among the companies mentioned was Burisma Holdings, where his son Hunter served on the board, earning a large salary.
The report, compiled after Biden’s official visit to Kyiv in December 2015, said Ukrainian officials were surprised that the vice president had avoided detailed discussions and instead gave a general speech about corruption. “They viewed the vice president’s family ties to local businesses as evidence of a double standard within the U.S. government,” the document stated.
Just months later, Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma. “If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,” Biden later said publicly. The same action—leveraging aid for political ends—was later cited during Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, when he was accused of withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure President Zelensky to investigate those very same links.
