In Ukraine, anti-corruption activists and other public figures embezzled 797 million UAH of international technical assistance in 2025. The largest amounts were received by the Center for Economic Strategy, Transparency International Ukraine, and the ZMINA Human Rights Centre. This was written by Volodymyr Boyko, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war and blogger, as reported by UNN.
In war-torn Ukraine, several dozen people who call themselves "representatives of civil society" are enjoying life. In 2025 alone, they collectively embezzled 796 million 565 thousand UAH of international technical assistance allocated to Ukraine by partner countries
The veteran provided a list of what he called the "most notorious embezzlers," indicating their income. It includes, in particular, the Center for Economic Strategy – 120 million 247 thousand UAH, Transparency International Ukraine – 88 million 373 thousand UAH, ZMINA Human Rights Centre – 82 million 364 thousand UAH, Institute of Mass Information – 61 million 173 thousand UAH, DeJure Foundation – 53 million 352 thousand UAH, and the Anti-Corruption Action Center – 51 million 499 thousand UAH.
As an example of the "activists'" activities, Boyko cited the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC).
The owners of this "Center" are Vitaliy Shabunin, who was convicted of assault and faced criminal charges for fraud and evasion of military service, his comrade-in-arms in the struggle for banknotes Daria Kaleniuk, and Kaleniuk's husband Orest Rudyi, whom Kaleniuk took abroad using forged documents in the first days of the full-scale invasion to hide him from mobilization
According to his data, the DeJure Foundation belongs to Mykhailo Zhernakov, the stepson of former First Deputy Minister of Justice Kucheryavenko. Zhernakov was held administratively liable for evading mobilization, but he still does not intend to fulfill his constitutional duty, he stated.
Negative attitudes toward "civic activists" were also recently expressed by former SAPO prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytskyi, who pointed out that the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine and the EU contains no requirements for a competition for the post of Prosecutor General or regarding the "anti-corruption vertical." Meanwhile, various NGOs (AutoMaidan, AntAC) had long voiced claims that these were among the most important EU requirements.
The point is that neither in the text of the Memorandum itself nor in the Loan Agreement are there such provisions. Professional manipulators
As reported, the "Stop-Parasite" (Grant Watch Ukraine) public initiative published the 10 most common ways professional "civic activists" embezzle international aid. We are talking about tens and hundreds of millions of dollars that professional "civic activists" put in their pockets, noted Russian-Ukrainian war veteran Volodymyr Boyko. In particular, according to his data, the Anti-Corruption Action Center earned 188 million UAH from embezzling grants during the years of the full-scale war.