From the front — for sale: in Ukraine, a scheme to steal hundreds of military drones worth tens of millions was uncovered

On April 1, 2026 the Office of the Prosecutor General reported the uncovering of a large-scale interregional scheme for the embezzlement and sale of unmanned aerial vehicles that were supplied to the military under the state project “Army of Drones”. According to the investigation, the scheme was organized by the commander of a unit of one of the military formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), along with two civilian accomplices. The special operation was carried out by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Defense of the Eastern Region, the Kharkiv Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Defense of the Eastern Region, the Territorial Department of the SBI in the city of Poltava and the Main Department of the National Police in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

The investigation believes the scheme operated from November 2024 to March 2026. During that time, according to law enforcement, the serviceman organized a systematic illegal write-off of unmanned aerial systems that were registered to military units and used to carry out combat missions on the line of contact. These were precisely the UAVs transferred to units under the project “Army of Drones”. The geography of the scheme, according to investigators, covered Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and other regions of Ukraine.

The mechanism described by investigators worked as follows: the drones were illegally written off the records, after which they were handed over to civilian accomplices for further sale through specialized online platforms using anonymous accounts. The equipment was stored in residential and utility premises, as well as in postal operator facilities. Members of the group are accused of misappropriating more than 343 UAVs of various types for a total amount of 15,233,439 hryvnias.

Separately, law enforcement report signs of illicit enrichment by the unit commander. According to the investigation, during 2025 he acquired assets worth more than 10.7 million hryvnias, which significantly exceed his lawful income. To conceal the origin of the property, real estate and vehicles were allegedly registered to close relatives — his wife and mother. This detail especially undermines trust in the military system, because it is no longer only about theft of military property, but also about the likely turning of the war into a private business.

During searches of residences, vehicles and non-residential premises, the OPG reports that quadcopters DJI Matrice 4T and DJI Mavic 4 Pro, UAV bodies with components, passports and certificates, packaging and stickers with serial numbers, cash in the amount of 1,483,700 hryvnias, property documents, rough notes and mobile phones were seized. Also seized were vehicles Toyota Land Cruiser 200 and Mercedes-Benz GL 350 CDI, as well as documents for an Audi Q7 and a Mercedes-Benz G-class. Separately mentioned were imitation means in the form of USD 50,000, used to document the crime.

The actions of the suspects have been qualified under Part 4 of Article 410 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — misappropriation of military property in conditions of martial law. The unit commander has additionally been notified of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 368-5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — illicit enrichment. A preventive measure in the form of pre-trial detention has been applied to the suspects. Law enforcement emphasizes that they are establishing the full circle of persons involved, including other service members.

This is not the first similar episode in the field of defense procurement and military provisioning. Earlier the SBI already reported other schemes related to the embezzlement of funds on FPV drones and the misappropriation of fuel for the AFU. Against this background the new case looks especially toxic: when the state and volunteers are literally supplying the front with drones, someone, according to the investigation, turned this equipment into goods for shadow sales.

As a reminder, we previously wrote:

• Former Ministry of Defense officials suspected of embezzling 21 million hryvnias of fuel for the AFU
• Commander of Air Force Logistics and the head of the SBU in Zhytomyr region detained for bribery
• An AFU major suspected of buying apartments in Bali
• Millions in pockets instead of drones at the front: over UAH 47 million embezzled on “paper” FPV in a military unit
• Corruption in the military: how the deputy commander of the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade profited from “dead souls”