The Novaya Gazeta Europe outlet said in a report published on Monday that corruption was rife in the area.
Russia has poured hundreds of billions of euros into parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, after announcing their "annexation" from Ukraine last year, according to news outlets.
Public procurement in the area has been exempt from anti-corruption measures, giving officials leeway over awarding contracts and making corruption "rampant in the occupied regions," Novaya Gazeta Europe reported.
Ukraine strikes Russian ammunition depot in Luhansk region: officials
Ukraine's security services have destroyed a Russian ammunition depot and armoured vehicles near the occupied city of Svatove in the eastern Luhansk province, according to officials.
The strike was carried out using unmanned aerial vehicles overnight into Monday, officials in Kyiv said.
Ukraine's security service SBU shared footage showing a drone dropping explosives on the Russian ammunition depot, The Kyiv Independent website reported.
Russian-held Svatove sits 15 kilometres from the frontline on an important axis of the Kremlin's invasion, in the direction of Kupiansk in the neighboring Kharkiv region, according to news outlets.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Tuesday is day 650 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: Institute for the Study of War, The Kyiv Independent, Novaya Gazeta Europe
