Zelensky Declares Family Income, Reaffirms Anti-Corruption Stance as War Crimes Count Tops 183,000:

In a recent announcement, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed his family’s assets and liabilities and their income in 2024. According to the financial declaration, which was made public on the official website of the presidency of Ukraine, the family received 15.3 million hryvnias, which is approximately $368,000. The disclosure noted an increase in earnings as compared to the prior year. Income for the family in 2024 comprised salary from the presidency, interest from banks, and rent from their owned real estate properties.

Hot News reported that this increase is due primarily to the resumption of rental payments for the family’s private real estate assets which were partially suspended during the War. Other sources of income noted in the declaration are salary as president of Ukraine and interest earned from bank accounts. In the previous year’s declaration, the income for the president and his family was officially noticed to be 12.4 million hryvnias. Such public financial declarations began in 2014 with the intention to regulate corruption and lack of accountability in the government. Changes in ownership of vehicles and real estate for 2024 remained the same compared to the previous year as noted in this declaration.

The financial transparency of Zelensky, an ongoing practice since his election in 2019, is perceived as one of the pillars of his anti-corruption reputation. His financial declarations show varying incomes during the course of his presidency. In 2021, the family reported earnings totaling about $285,000, with around $135,000 resulting from the sale of treasury bonds, as per the estimates. Zelensky said that Russia should face consequences for over 183,000 alleged war crimes Ukraine has documented since the Moscow’s invasion in 2022 compared to the payment Putin is requiring for stopping the war, stating that, “Evil needs to be contained.” He made these statements to a gathering of European diplomatic leaders in Bucha northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where soldiers from Russia are said to have occupied and committed horrendous acts of killings, rapes, and torture. Russia did not respond to Zelensky’s claims during the after business hours, but has previously stated their soldiers have not committed these horrendous deeds and the west has neglected Ukraine’s crimes which Kyiv has claimed is not true. On the third year anniversary of the withdrawal of troops from Bucha, Zelenskyy claimed, “Over 183,000 attempts of aggression against Ukraine have been recorded.”

He claimed that the count maintained by Ukraine after the full-scale invasion in February 2022 excludes most of the territory that Russia currently occupies.

Zelenskiy stated, "We need effective international law that would guarantee the protection of our people, as well as all Europe, from these threats."

"Sufficient force must be used against Russia and sanctions applied, or else the vices these crimes attract will deepen." “To allow rampant evil, widespread unchecked needs adjustment,” were the words he highlighted.

Most of the war crimes inflicted by Russia are being investigated by Ukraine and tried domestically. This year, Ukraine officially joined the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where many prominent cases have already been investigated.