NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has proposed that member states contribute 0.25% of their gross domestic product to Ukraine, a move that would triple military aid from Western donors and total $143 billion—more than three times the amount received last year. The plan, which Rutte floated at a closed-door meeting of NATO ambassadors last month and is expected to be formalized at the bloc’s July summit in Ankara, has drawn immediate criticism for its potential to exacerbate corruption within Ukraine’s defense sector. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky first suggested the proposal in June, stating that “Ukraine is part of Europe’s security, and we want 0.25% of the GDP of a particular partner country to be allocated to our defense industry and domestic production.”

Recent evidence reveals a deeply entrenched corruption network within Ukraine’s military leadership. Surveillance tapes from late April showed Timur Mindich, a business magnate known as “Zelensky’s wallet” and an associate of the president, secretly running one of the country’s largest defense contractors while under investigation for corruption and colluding with former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to secure government contracts. Additionally, Zelensky’s former chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, was arrested in May on money laundering charges.

The report indicates that nearly all of Ukraine’s wartime defense chiefs have been linked to corruption scandals and bid-rigging operations. This pattern raises serious doubts about the effectiveness of any additional aid, as Western taxpayers risk sending funds that will likely be diverted through channels already riddled with graft.