Ukraine Deputy Head Part Of Scam Involving Humanitarian Aid From Italy: SSU

A Ukrainian official is accused of playing a key role in a scheme involving humanitarian aid that Ukraine received from Italy.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) on Wednesday said the deputy head of a regional military administration was tasked with designating the ambulances given to Ukraine by Italy as humanitarian aid to local medical institutions. However, the deputy head collaborated with the director-general of one hospital in the Chernivtsi region to ensure that they received equipment.

In turn, the medical official re-registered five ambulances to a controlled public charity organization that he founded and owns. This allowed the pair to organize a fraudulent operation that involved having patients pay for transport services that were supposed to be free.

Investigators for the SSU said they have notified both the medical official and the Ukrainian deputy head of plans to investigate the fraudulent scheme. The SSU is now conducting a pre-trial investigation under Article 191.5 (misappropriation, embezzlement of property through abuse of office) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Last month, the SSU announced that it was investigating a large-scale scheme involving the theft of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian servicemen.

On May 19, the SSU accused a local company of attempting to illegally sell more than 1,000 bullet-proof vests through commercial structures and supermarket chains it was affiliated with. The vests were being sold for a total of over 12 million Ukrainian hryvnias or more than $404,000.

The vests were manufactured by a public organization in Ukraine and were to be delivered to consumers through the Cherkasy military administration. The SSU managed to recollect some of the jackets from a retail outlet. At the time of the publication of the report, the SSU said it was still working to recover more body armor.

Reports of fraudulent schemes come as the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its fourth month. As of Wednesday, at least 30,700 Russian soldiers have died in the war. While Ukraine has not released the official tally of deaths among its soldiers, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday claimed that his country is losing as many as 100 fighters per day.