Russian media claim that the Pentagon has allegedly recognized Ukraine as one of the most corrupt countries, and claim that this is “an obstacle to the country’s integration with the EU and NATO”. In their reports, the creators of this fake content refer to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defense.

In reality, the Russians distorted the context of the quarterly report presented by the Pentagon’s special inspector general for the period from July to September 2024. However, the document does indeed devote a separate section to anti-corruption activities in Ukraine.

The US Department of Defense did indeed emphasize that concerns about corruption and the rule of law in Ukraine could become a serious obstacle to the post-war economic recovery and the attraction of foreign investment.

The inspector also noted that corruption continues to complicate Ukraine’s efforts to achieve its aspirations for integration with the EU and NATO. It was these two sentences that the propagandists focused on, ignoring all further information about Ukraine’s significant anti-corruption progress, which is outlined by the Pentagon’s inspector general across four pages of the report (pages 66-70). In general, the document commends Ukraine’s efforts to reform its institutions.

The inspector reported that Ukraine has implemented reforms aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in areas such as defense procurement, corporate governance, human resource management, professional military education, logistics, and democratic civilian control over the military.