For several weeks, a discreet team of officials from the Ukrainian defence ministry has been staying in the United Arab Emirates. The small contingent, led by 30-something lawyer Kseniaa P., is not there to negotiate the purchase of equipment that the Ukrainian army is sorely lacking in its counteroffensive against the Russian army, but rather to get its hands on the flourishing finances of a company with direct links to the country's military-industrial complex.

The officials have their sights set