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Ukraine

Supporting Ukraine to prevent corruption and strengthen public institutions

Ukraine’s resilience in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion has been extraordinary. While defending its sovereignty and rebuilding communities under wartime conditions, Ukraine is also advancing reforms to strengthen transparency, accountability and public trust.

Wartime conditions place immense pressure on anti-corruption systems, while ongoing defence needs and reconstruction create major new governance and integrity challenges that the systems need to adapt to.

The Basel Institute has supported Ukraine on anti-corruption and asset recovery for over 12 years. Through our 10-strong team of experts in Kyiv and with support from headquarters, we work with government institutions, state-owned enterprises, civil society and international partners to strengthen transparency, accountability and resilience.

Our work helps Ukraine strengthen safeguards against corruption, recover stolen assets and build stronger systems for recovery, reconstruction and long-term reform.

How we work

Working closely with Ukrainian institutions and partners through a team of anti-corruption experts in Kyiv and HQ, we provide practical support tailored to wartime realities and long-term reform priorities.

Our activities include:

  • Strengthening anti-corruption systems in critical sectors including infrastructure, transport, forestry, energy, critical minerals and defence industries.
  • Supporting transparency and accountability in restoration and reconstruction processes.
  • Helping Ukrainian ministries, agencies and state-owned enterprises to strengthen anti-corruption strategies, compliance systems, organisational resilience and governance frameworks.
  • Conducting corruption risk assessments and developing practical mitigation measures.
  • Supporting anti-corruption investigators, prosecutors and judges with financial investigation and asset recovery training, plus technical assistance with international cooperation.

Our impact

Over more than 12 years of engagement in Ukraine, we have supported practical reforms and institutional strengthening across corruption prevention and enforcement. Recent examples include:

  • We supported the development of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy of Ukraine’s chapters on minerals and restoration, as well as anti-corruption strategies for the Ministry for the Development of Communities and Territories and other state entities.
  • Working with Ukrainian partners in government and civil society, we helped produce Ukraine’s first joint strategic corruption risk assessment of civil infrastructure recovery.
  • Similarly, jointly with the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP) and the Special Environmental Prosecutor’s Office (SEPO), we produced an in-depth report on corruption schemes in the forestry sector.
  • Our team has supported major state-owned enterprises including Ukrainian Railways and Forests of Ukraine to strengthen anti-corruption systems, compliance frameworks and governance approaches adapted to wartime realities.
  • Working with government partners, we assessed corruption risks in 336 restoration grants worth UAH 61.8 billion, helping strengthen safeguards for critical recovery and infrastructure investments.
  • We contributed to global policy dialogue on corruption risks in Ukraine, including through regular joint progress reviews with Transparency International assessing Ukraine’s anti-corruption reforms in the context of recovery and EU integration.
  • ICAR experts helped strengthen international asset recovery efforts linked to high-profile corruption cases, including support for international cooperation relating to assets frozen abroad.
  • An ICAR train-the-trainer programme has strengthened specialist expertise in financial investigations and asset recovery across Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions, reaching nearly 150 practitioners from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC).
  • The training has not only upskilled officers but contributed to a sharp increase in money laundering investigations and prosecutions. NABU cases increased more than fourfold since the training began, and SAPO convictions for money laundering offices rose from around 15 in 2022 to nearly 200 in 2025. Civil confiscation cases involving unexplained assets also increased substantially, alongside the adoption of advanced investigative methods and standalone money laundering approaches introduced through the training.

Partnerships and funding

We work closely with government institutions, law enforcement agencies, state-owned enterprises, civil society organisations and international partners.

Partners in government include the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories, the Agency for Infrastructure Development, as well as the State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety and the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving.

We also work closely with the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP).

In our asset recovery and enforcement work, we have primarily supported the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), Specialised Environmental Prosecutor’s Office (SEPO), as well as the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) in its leadership recruitment process.

We also work with state-owned enterprises in strategic sectors, including Ukrainian Railways, Forests of Ukraine, Ukrainian grid operator UkrEnergo, the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine, Medical Procurement of Ukraine, and Ukraine Defence Manufacturer UkrObronProm.

In addition, we have commenced advisory services to numerous private actors, first and foremost in the defence sector, where we support individual companies and associations in their European integration efforts by advising them on the strengthening of compliance systems.

Ukraine’s strong civil society plays an extremely important in strengthening oversight, supporting reform efforts and contributing to research and policy dialogue. Key civil society partners in Ukraine include Transparency International Ukraine and WWF Ukraine. To support the next generation of anti-corruption champions, for example, we are partnering with TI-Ukraine on a joint internship project for 12 interns per year who go on to serve in government, the private sector, donor-funded programmes and civil society.

Our work in Ukraine is funded by a range of international partners and donors. Current donors include Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Swedfund. We have also previously received support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), USAID, NEFCO, and others.

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