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The existence of distrust in the US government, the White House in President Zelensky is the result of unresolved problems with corruption in Ukraine. The consequence of this mistrust is, among other things, the slow delivery of weapons needed by Ukraine for a war with Russia.
In The New York Times, in his column, Thomas Friedman noted that the US government does not trust the Ukrainian authorities much more than officials publicly say.
“In private, US officials are far more concerned about Ukraine’s leadership than they give out. There is a deep distrust between the White House and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – far more than has been reported,” Friedman wrote.
Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, also speaks about the mistrust of the US government towards the Ukrainian authorities. In an article for Ukrainska Pravda, she cites this as the reason for the slow supply of weapons to Ukraine.
“If the US government has a lack of confidence in the country, in particular, because of the high level of corruption, then the transfer of military technologies and weapons to the defense forces of this country will be extremely limited or stopped,” the expert notes.
Kaleniuk notes that America hesitated for a long time whether to give Ukraine modern 155-caliber artillery systems and only public exposure of the atrocities of the Russians in Bucha and Irpin and pressure from Congress forced the Biden administration to start deliveries.
At the same time, the expert notes that the United States is transferring artillery to Ukraine without digital fire control systems and without the technical documentation necessary for the repair of this equipment.
Publicly, you can find a bunch of different explanations for why this happened. But there is a main reason that we need to work hard on - the Americans do not trust the Ukrainian authorities enough to transfer the most modern defense technologies in full, ”Kalenyuk notes.
She also notes that, despite the mistrust on the part of partners, the Ukrainian authorities are in no hurry to correct the situation.
“Instead of carrying out a transparent reform of defense procurement, a monopoly in the arms trade is being formed in the Ministry of Defense - the state enterprise Defense Procurement Agency. Several interlocutors of the UP in the defense sphere said that Denis Sharapov, Deputy Minister of Defense, Andrey Yermak’s former business partner, is responsible for the work of this agency. According to the publication “Our money”, Sharapov has a reputation as an arms dealer since the corrupt times of ex-president Viktor Yanukovych,” the expert writes.
Kaleniuk notes that the biography and actions of Sharapov and, in general, the newly state-owned enterprise will soon attract the attention of the American special services in particular. Because Americans need to understand how serious Ukraine is about changing and building confidence in itself in the very sensitive and monetary sector of defense procurement.
Source: PRM
