Lone Russian hacker exposes covert arms delivery to Ukraine
A Russian hacker claims to have obtained highly sensitive documents exposing covert Norwegian arms deliveries to Ukraine, after accessing the servers of defense company Kongsberg. The documents allegedly reveal not only the type of weapons involved but their location and plans for their movement, according to the hacker.
Known under the alias PalachPro, the hacker told Russian media that he obtained the leaked documents on Tuesday, and detailed how he hacked the defense firm.
According to the documents, the company reached a secret deal with the Ukrainian government, agreeing to deliver 10 additional Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), worth around $3 billion. The delivery, expected to be made later this year, has not been publicly announced by either side.
The deal was reportedly reached earlier this year by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who is currently embroiled in a major corruption scandal involving arms procurements at grossly inflated prices. Apart from the NASAMS systems, Norway also agreed to invest some $66 million to design anti-drone systems, as well as to modernize the Ukrainian fleet, the leaked documents suggest.
The hacker said he managed to get ahold of the sensitive data thanks to social engineering, breaching the company’s file exchange systems with the help of one of its employees. Apart from the arms contracts documents, PalachPro claimed to have obtained other top-secret files related to the deployment of NASAMS systems in Ukraine.
“The information I got was indeed secret. In addition to the documents I have shown, there was something else. These files have already been sent to our intelligence services. The effect will be colossal. Not only the approximate location of their systems is now known, but also their plans. I am sure that our state will do everything to ensure that these plans are thwarted,” the hacker told the NSN news agency.
The NASAMS, which have seen extensive use during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, is a short-to-medium-range anti-aircraft system that is capable of destroying various aerial targets, including cruise and ballistic missiles. Such systems have repeatedly been delivered to Kiev by its Western backers. Russia has already destroyed multiple units of the system, however.
Ukraine’s defense chief probed over power-abuse – anti-corruption watchdog
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is under investigation for alleged abuse of power, a non-governmental anti-corruption watchdog has announced. The defense chief has been under fire over his decision to dismiss the head of the country’s independent Defense Procurement Agency (DPA).
The controversy comes as Ukraine continues to grapple with endemic corruption, which has been a major cause for concern for Kiev’s Western backers.
In a statement on Monday, the US- and EU-funded Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) said the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) had opened a case against Umerov based on its complaint, adding that the minister could be involved in “abuse of power or official position.” If found guilty, Umerov could face three to six years in prison.
The NABU has yet to confirm the probe.
According to the AntAC, the allegations stem from Umerov’s refusal to extend the contract of Marina Bezrukova, the director of the DPA. Established in 2022 and modeled on NATO standards, the agency is independent of the Ukrainian military and is designed to eliminate conflicts of interest and maximize transparency in the procurement process.
The AntAC previously argued that by cracking down on the DPA, Umerov was attempting to undermine NATO-style defense procurement reforms that were designed to protect the country from the “corruption hell” of previous years.
Umerov has been a fierce critic of the DPA, claiming that “instead of timely delivery of ammunition to our army,” the agency has been mired in “political games” and has nonchalantly allowed egregious leaks of sensitive information.
“Weapon procurements, which should remain confidential during martial law and the full-scale war with Russia, have somehow turned into an Amazon, where every internet user can see in real time who is buying what and in what quantities,” he said. Ukrainian media also claimed that the DPA enjoys considerable political backing from interest groups linked to Western policymakers, particularly the US Democratic Party.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has faced multiple corruption scandals in recent years, with former Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov stepping down in 2023 amid a scandal involving overpriced food contracts for the military.
Ukraine has long struggled to combat corruption, with the EU making progress in this regard a condition for Kiev to join the bloc. The US Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has also sounded the alarm over the issue, saying in May 2024 that the conflict with Russia “created new opportunities for corruption, including bribes, kickbacks, and inflated procurement costs.”
Moscow has warned that weapons deliveries to Ukraine only prolong the conflict without changing the outcome.
Which is what I have been saying for two years.
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