Batkivschyna Party Leader Yulia Tymoshenko and a group of MPs from her faction have filed an address to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with facts that allegedly are evidence of the sale of Ukrainian weapons by officials from the Ministry of Defense and defense enterprises during the time of external aggression in Ukraine.
‘The crime is that during the military aggression by the Russian Federation, when the Ukrainian army desperately need weapons, when our volunteers have to face tanks and powerful Russian weapons with pistols, the Ministry of Defense and Ukroboronprom is selling Ukrainian weapons through corrupt schemes, with kickbacks, to who knows whom,’ Tymoshenko told journalists before the meeting with SBU Head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko on Friday in Kyiv.
She said that since the start of the military aggression against Ukraine, the country has sold 35,900 AKMs, 1,237 grenade launchers, nearly 5,000 aircraft missiles, 60 anti-tank missiles, 20 armored personnel carriers, 23 drones, 10,000 helmets and 2 Mi-8 helicopters.
‘They are preparing contracts to sell T-72 tanks and BTR-4E armored personnel carriers to Nigeria. It’s possible that these weapons are being sold by the Kremlin’s fifth column in the Ukrainian power structures, including those waging the war against Ukraine and killing our country’s civilians and soldiers,’ she said.
‘This is a crime under article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – treason that weakens the country’s defenses. All the corrupt generals must be removed from their posts, along with officials that sold Ukrainian weapons during the Kremlin’s military aggression, until the investigations are completed and they are brought to justice. The punishment must be very severe, the leader of Batkivschyna said.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported that after visiting the SBU building Tymoshenko said that representatives of the party met Nalyvaichenko.
‘We gave him the documents – the complaint about the sale of weapons and the deputy request for information about what weapons Ukraine is selling and to whom,’ she said.
