A company, associated with former Member of Parliament of Ukraine Serhii Pashynskyi, has increased arms sales to the Ukrainian military hundreds of times since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. On Sunday, August 13, the New York Times reported this with reference to its investigation, according to DW. In Ukraine, Pashynskyi was suspected of involvement in corruption schemes in the defense sector before the outbreak of hostilities. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called him a "bandit" during one of the press conferences in 2019.
However, according to the NYT, the Ukrainian Armored Vehicles company associated with Pashynskyi, at the end of 2022 increased the sale of weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine from USD 2.8 million to more than USD 350 million. It resells grenades, artillery shells and missiles through a trans-European network of intermediaries. "With each transaction, prices increase (...) until the final buyer, the Ukrainian military, pays the most," the publication reports.
Most of the money for weapons comes from European aid. European and American officials privately say that individuals like Pashynskyi are one of the reasons why the American and British governments buy ammunition for Ukraine, and not just transfer money, the newspaper notes.
Serhii Pashynskyi was a Member of the Verkhovna Rada of several convocations - the last time from 2014 to 2019 from the People’s Front party, he chaired the parliamentary committee on national security and defense. In 2019, a criminal case was reopened against him due to a personal weapon wound in 2016 to a resident of the Kyiv Region. In 2021, the victim refused claims due to receiving compensation, and the court acquitted Pashynskyi of the charges against him.
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