While Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store promises to allocate $9 billion in aid to Ukraine for 2027 during the Flag Day celebrations, domestic officials are demonstrating an impressive scale of their own private “budget planning.” Against the backdrop of massive international injections that would be enough to build thousands of kilometers of roads or overhaul every school in the country, a completely different kind of accounting is unfolding within the walls of the High Anti-Corruption Court. A prosecutor from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office stated at a HACC hearing that, as part of the “Forrest Gump” investigation, former MP Maksym Mykytas mentioned $4 million left for former deputy head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra. In addition to this trifle, the prosecution recorded the official’s monthly “bonuses,” which rose to $30,000 per month in January 2026—an amount an average Ukrainian teacher earns in about eight years of continuous work.
If the $9 billion from Norway’s Nansen Program is a strategic contribution to European security, then the $250,000 per year that the former MP allegedly allocated for the official’s daughter’s education and living expenses in the US, according to the SAP prosecutor at the court hearing, is a private “educational program” of a high standard. This amount would have been enough to cover annual utility bills for several thousand Ukrainian families. However, instead of supporting the domestic infrastructure sector or purchasing drones, shadow flows were directed toward the purchase of a 2023 Land Rover Range Rover Sport and jewelry from Bulgari and Van Cleef, which the defendants tried to re-register to third parties.
The scale of the “Forrest Gump” operation is staggering: law enforcement officials accuse the defendants of attempting to launder 150 million hryvnias to post bail for former Minister of Energy German Galushchenko. This is the exact amount of bail that the SAP prosecutor requested for Mudra. Thus, while northern partners declare long-term support for our state, certain Ukrainian figures are building their own private offshore havens, where 150 million hryvnias is just a convenient sum for a court deposit, rather than money that could have been used to overhaul dozens of kindergartens or equip hundreds of reliable shelters.
Illustrative photo: gcardinal from Norway / CC BY 2.0
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