{"id":1313858,"date":"2025-10-30T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/false-answers\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:21:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T07:21:14","slug":"false-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/false-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Age of False Answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Facebook<\/a> page of the author<\/em><\/p>\n

The Kudritsky case marks a new stage in the offensive \u2014 not just against one person, but against anyone who dares to speak, question, or resist. What began as isolated pressure on opponents is turning into a systematic purge of those who refuse to stay silent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The scenario has become almost banal: an absurd accusation, a cover-up by the \u201cauthorities,\u201d a court decision dictated by the prosecutor \u2014 or, at best, a trial postponed indefinitely despite the lack of evidence and a Kafkaesque storyline.<\/p>\n

The main focus, of course, is the courtroom footage and the media hysteria: \u201cHe\u2019s on trial!\u201d Even though, the discussion usually concerns preliminary matters like pretrial detention or procedural motions.<\/p>\n

All of this is a regurgitation of the Soviet-Russian system of intimidation \u2014 a reflection of itself. Its goal is to pacify society, to lull the masses with endless TV marathons and Telegram propaganda, while neutralizing anyone who dares to resist.<\/p>\n

Impunity \u2014 both the aim and the consequence of this approach \u2014 gives free rein to corruption and inefficiency. And that\u2019s the greatest danger, because impunity inevitably leads to failed governance and the theft of essentials.<\/p>\n

Recent scandals illustrate this perfectly:<\/p>\n

\u2013 The \u201cDynasty\u201d scandal<\/strong>, in which Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshev was caught developing a luxury cottage community during wartime \u2014 allegedly \u201cconsidering the interests\u201d of Yermak and Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The \u201cMindich diamonds\u201d case<\/strong>, where a member of Zelenskyy\u2019s inner circle was implicated in diamond trading with Russia. It\u2019s also worth recalling that Zelenskyy\u2019s business structures have had \u2014 and likely still have \u2014 ongoing operations in Russia.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The \u201cFire Point Casting\u201d scandal<\/strong>, in which a casting agency affiliated with Zelenskyy\u2019s companies became one of the main contractors for the Ukrainian military. It reportedly participated in producing Flamingo<\/em> missiles, a project already under scrutiny by European partners over transparency concerns.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The \u201cexpensive drones\u201d affair<\/strong> involving the State Special Communications Service, where NABU and SAPO estimated losses of 90 million hryvnias due to inflated procurement costs. It\u2019s hard not to recall how European Solidarity<\/em> objected when the government moved to confiscate personal income tax revenues from military personnel in local communities \u2014 funds redirected not to brigades, not even to the Ministry of Defense, but to shadow structures for embezzlement.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The “billion-dollar gun shop” scandal, when a tiny Arizona gun shop “won a billion-dollar contract” to supply weapons to Ukraine and even received 17 million euros in advance. Given this approach, it’s no surprise that the Ministry of Defense’s overdue accounts receivable exceed 50 billion hryvnias (over 1 billion euros).<\/p>\n

The \u201cPronin\u2019s silence at the FATF\u201d<\/strong> scandal exposed another glaring failure of Ukraine\u2019s leadership. The head of the State Financial Monitoring Service, Ihor Pronin, failed to secure even a single action or statement against Russia at the latest meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly a surprise. Pronin, long suspected of corruption in the construction of fortifications and fraud at the Asset Management Agency (ARMA), plays a different role altogether. It was he who submitted the \u201cdocuments\u201d that served as the basis for the so-called \u201csanctions\u201d against Poroshenko. Those papers, however, had nothing to do with financial monitoring. Conveniently, whenever the Supreme Court demands answers, Pronin is \u201cabroad on business trips.\u201d<\/p>\n

What unites this and other scandals is something far more alarming: nearly all involve either theft from the defense sector or profiteering with the enemy\u2014directly creating threats to national security.<\/p>\n

Our allies see it. That\u2019s why, according to experts, the government is bracing for a cold shower<\/strong> in the upcoming European Commission report<\/strong> on Ukraine\u2019s \u201cprogress\u201d toward EU integration.<\/p>\n

A separate report prepared by civil society organizations at the EU\u2019s request addresses, in detail, Ukraine\u2019s corruption, abuse of power, repression of the opposition, restrictions on freedom of speech, and politically motivated \u201csanctions\u201d against opponents.<\/p>\n

These acknowledgments will not remain on paper. They will complicate future aid packages, hinder sanctions policy toward Russia, and hand Ukraine\u2019s critics new arguments against expanding support.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the corruption, incompetence, and \u201clast-resort embezzlement,\u201d which even officials from the Office of the President privately admit to foreign journalists, are severely undermining Ukraine\u2019s state capacity\u2014and with it, its defense.<\/p>\n

Despite censorship, bans on MPs traveling abroad, and the government\u2019s war on the opposition, experts, activists, and journalists continue to expose new scandals. The information breaks through precisely because the rot has reached a scale that can no longer be hidden.<\/p>\n

Ignorance and theft, corruption and arrogance\u2014these are now problems of national security.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The only real way out is to replace the current administration of \u201cservants to 5\u20136 managers in Zelenskyy\u2019s Office\u201d with a professional Government of National Salvation<\/strong>\u2014a coalition of national unity in parliament that would be independent of the Presidential Office and free from political manipulation.<\/p>\n

Almost half of those surveyed already support the idea of forming such a Government \u2014 and this number continues to grow. Nearly 40% remain neutral, while only 8% oppose it.<\/p>\n

The longer the creation of such a government is delayed, the higher the cost for Ukraine \u2014 in lives, in territory, and in resources.<\/p>\n

Because the current government\u2019s incompetence and corruption<\/strong> are costing Ukraine dearly: on the front lines, in the economy, and on the international stage.<\/p>\n

\n

As a reminder, former executive director of NEC Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytsky, has become the subject of an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation<\/a>. Investigators are looking into his involvement in abuse of office and embezzlement of state-owned company funds. The investigation concerns the possible artificial increase in deforestation and inflated costs of construction work on energy pipelines.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was subsequently revealed that the State Bureau of Investigation had filed new charges against businessman Ihor Grynkevich, who was in custody, and had detained former Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi in the Lviv region<\/a>. He is accused of large-scale fraud and money laundering.<\/em><\/p>\n

On October 29, Kyiv’s Pechersk District Court ordered Kudrytskyi to be remanded in custody<\/a> for two months, until December 26, with bail set at UAH 13,730,000.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, follow “Pryamyi”<\/strong>\u00a0on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Telegram<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Materials published in the \u201cTHOUGHTS\u201d section reflect the opinion of the author of the publication, who bears full responsibility for the accuracy of the information.<\/em>
\n\u2022 The editorial board of prm.ua may not share the opinions expressed in the author\u2019s material.<\/em>
\n\u2022 The owner of the web page in the \u201cTHOUGHTS\u201d section is the author of the publication.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Facebook page of the author The Kudritsky case marks a new stage in the offensive \u2014 not just against one person, but against anyone who dares to speak, question, or resist. What began as isolated pressure on opponents is turning into a systematic purge of those who refuse to stay silent. The scenario has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1313854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76875,76885,76894,76991],"class_list":["post-1313858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news","category-policy","category-politics","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1314283,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313858\/revisions\/1314283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1313854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}