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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Drapatyi 7 issued an order in September to minimize corruption risks in the military.
This was reported by Nashi Hroshi, citing sources in the Armed Forces who received the directive. The order is intended to make it harder for corrupt officials to remain in relatively quiet positions and thus wait out the time limits of their criminal cases.
The document reportedly sets personnel restrictions and disciplinary measures for those involved in corruption offenses. The addressees of the order include the leadership of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, commanders of branches and services, heads of military management bodies, educational institutions, and law enforcement bodies of the Armed Forces. Overall, the document was sent to 48 recipients.
Drapatyi’s order applies not only to service members who already have convictions, sanctions, or bans on holding certain positions, but also to those whose guilt has not yet been proven.
“This order may affect a significant portion of those accused in NABU and SAP cases who mobilized into the Defense Forces; a large share mobilized to avoid punishment. We know of about 80 individuals who mobilized into the Defense Forces,” Roman Verbovskyi, a lawyer at the Anti-Corruption Center, told the publication.
The document contains a direct ban on staffing units with military personnel accused of serious or especially serious corruption crimes, even if the case is still before the court. This restriction allows command to suspend suspects before the court issues a verdict in the case.
The publication reminded readers that investigation and judicial review of high-profile corruption cases can last for years. For example, in the “eggs for 17 UAH” case concerning the embezzlement of more than 733 million UAH for feeding servicemen, NABU and SAP announced suspicions in April 2025, and the pre-trial investigation was completed in September 2025. At the same time, the anti-corruption agencies may not be able to send the case to court until next year, the publication writes.
There are also examples where service members who received reprimands for corruption continued to work for years after receiving them. Nashi Hroshi recalled an episode involving firewood procurement in which the head of the Eastern KEU, Oleh Lupiichuk, was implicated. He received the corresponding reprimand at the end of 2024. In August last year he was dismissed from his post in Dnipro after an investigation into procurement fraud for firewood, and already the following month Lupiichuk became head of the Eastern KEU. A few days later he was suspected of negligent performance of duty. The court imposed a preventive measure on him, but he posted bail and returned. Based on court rulings dated September 2026, Lupiichuk is still a servicemember. However, the new ban in Drapatyi’s directive may affect such personnel in the Armed Forces.
Additionally, according to the document, if a servicemember committed a corruption-related offense but the court did not deprive them of the right to hold certain positions, they must still be subjected to disciplinary liability.
For servicemembers who already have convictions in corruption cases, the question of transferring them to positions without leadership or economic responsibilities should be considered. Those whose assets the court found to be unjustified and seized in favor of the state should be dismissed.
The directive also draws attention to appointments to TCC and SP, VLK and procurement units. When appointing to such positions or making personnel decisions regarding them, it is now mandatory to consider:
the presence of an unexpunged conviction for corruption;
open criminal cases under corruption articles;
administrative or disciplinary liability for corruption offenses.
These same requirements apply to the Military Law Enforcement Service, legal and anti-corruption services, and internal control units.
According to the directive, command must not allow direct subordination or dependence between close relatives while they are in service.
Reports on corrupt officials, convictions, open proceedings, sanctions, etc., must now be submitted every six months and as part of an annual report.
Drapatyi also issued a separate order obliging commanders to ensure subordinates appear for investigators and court. In other words, assigning official duties as a reason for non-appearance is now prohibited. Commanders must immediately notify the prosecutor, investigator, or court of any obstacles.
The anti-corruption prevention unit must keep records of those held accountable for corruption violations, check commanders’ responses to violations, and, if necessary, initiate service checks.
Recall that in April the former head of the State Fiscal Service, Roman Nasirov, received a real sentence — six years of imprisonment and a ban on holding public service positions for 3 years. Nasirov was found guilty of abuse of office, which caused losses to the state of more than 2 billion UAH.
After several extensions of his preventive measure, Nasirov was held in pretrial detention until May 2024, when he was released on bail of 55 million hryvnias. In April 2025 it became known that Nasirov wished to mobilize into the Armed Forces as a sapper. However, the next day the Military Law Enforcement Service announced the cancellation of the relevant order and the start of an investigation. // Dzerkalo Tyzhnia
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Драпатий ускладнив життя корупціонерам, які хочуть в ЗСУ перечекати строки своїх справ — ЗМІ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: CRIMINAL UKRAINE.
