10:24 PM
Monday, January 23, 2023
Kyiv – (dpa)
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has strongly rejected allegations of corruption in providing food to the army, following accusations that the army bought food for the troops at highly inflated prices.
“The most obvious goal seems to be an attempt to undermine confidence in the Ministry of Defense at a very important time,” Reznikov wrote on Facebook on Monday.
He said that there is no factual basis for these accusations, and pledged full transparency in the investigation.
“In fact, this is a common technical error made by the supplier,” the minister said, explaining the price paid by the army to buy the eggs.
He pointed out that instead of the unit price, the price of 100 grams of eggs was specified. This explains the three times higher prices compared to retail prices in the capital Kyiv.
He said transportation costs, including the dangers of moving too close to the front, caused prices to skyrocket. He explained that the cost of daily food for each soldier does not exceed $3.7.
He said that the increase in the cost since last year amounts to 21.5%, which is lower than the official inflation rate of 26.6%.
