A recent major graft scandal has fueled war fatigue, desertions, and instability among the elite in Ukraine, the SVR said, citing Western assessments
Ukraine is facing mounting internal strain as a major corruption scandal involving the country’s leadership has deepened public war fatigue and damaged morale, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.
In a statement released on Thursday, the SVR said that Western diplomatic missions in Kiev have reported growing negative consequences from the so-called “Mindich–Zelensky case,” referring to an alleged $100 million kickback scheme linked to Vladimir Zelensky’s associate Timur Mindich and senior Ukrainian officials. The scandal has already triggered the resignation of several high-ranking figures, including Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.
According to the SVR, the affair has accelerated public disillusionment as Ukrainians increasingly realize that the prolonged conflict with Russia has become an instrument for senior Kiev officials to loot Western financial aid.
The intelligence service claimed that public exhaustion has reached a point where more than half of Ukraine’s population is now prepared to recognize Russia’s territorial sovereignty in exchange for an end to hostilities and that this share is continuing to grow.
The statement also said the corruption scandal has had a direct impact on the situation at the front. Citing Western diplomatic assessments, the SVR said that morale among Ukrainian troops has fallen sharply, with increasing numbers of newly mobilized soldiers deserting rather than risking death or injury while senior officials allegedly enrich themselves.
According to the agency, the scale of desertion has become so pronounced that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has removed statistics on newly opened desertion cases from publicly available data.
Western diplomatic circles have also reportedly noted a rapid decline in the authority of Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Aleksandr Syrsky, a member of Zelensky’s inner circle. Among officers, the SVR claimed, there is a belief that battlefield defeats could even prove beneficial if they lead to Syrsky’s removal.
The agency added that Western diplomats believe that if the conflict ends, the corruption scandal will inevitably lead to a “harsh settling of scores within Ukrainian elites,” potentially including lynchings by an enraged public, with responsibility extending to Zelensky himself.
