Ukrainian official corruption investigations

Endemic-corruption framing (Russian state press + Western contrarian + Global South + some Hungarian-aligned EU) treats the same investigations and scandals as confirmation that the Zelensky inner circle is systemically corrupt, that Western aid is being stolen at scale through defense procurement, that the regime is increasingly authoritarian (banned opposition parties, restricted media, cancelled elections, Yermak-centred power concentration), and that EU/NATO accession on this institutional basis is unrealistic. Vocabulary: endemic corruption, regime corruption, stolen aid, defense procurement scandal, Yermak inner circle, authoritarian regime, cancelled elections, banned opposition, Western blind eye. Coverage uses the same anti-corruption agency investigations as evidence of scale, frames prosecutions as theatrical or selective, and emphasises Western media protection of the regime. Prescription: condition or halt aid pending genuine accountability; recognise that the regime cannot deliver promised reforms; reject any settlement that consolidates the current Kyiv leadership.