Several senior Ukrainian officials stepped down on Tuesday in the biggest change of leadership in the war with Russia so far, in what an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called a response to public calls for “justice”.
Some, though not all, of the dismissals were linked to allegations of corruption. Ukraine has a history of corruption and shaky governance and is under international pressure to show that it can be a credible steward of billions of dollars in Western aid.
“There are already personnel decisions – some today, some tomorrow – about officials at various levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in the regions and the security arena,” Zelenskiy said in an overnight video address.
Zelenskiy’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted: “The president sees and hears society. And he responds directly to an important public demand – justice for all.”
Corruption
Among those who resigned or were fired earlier today were a deputy attorney general, a deputy defense minister and Zelenskiy’s deputy chief of staff.
The changes come two days after a deputy infrastructure minister was arrested and accused of embezzling $400,000 from contracts to buy generators, one of the first major corruption scandals to become public since the war began 11 months ago. .
The Defense Ministry said Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who is responsible for supplying troops, resigned on Tuesday morning as a “dignified action” to maintain confidence, following media accusations of corruption that he and the ministry rejected. According to a newspaper report, the ministry paid excessive amounts for food for the troops, which the ministry and its supplier have denied.
The prosecution announced that Deputy Attorney General Oleksiy Symonenko had been removed from office, without giving any reason. Symonenko was criticized by the Ukrainian media for taking a vacation in Spain.
Although Zelenskiy did not mention any officials in his speech, he did announce a ban on employees taking vacations abroad.
“Nobody can afford to ignore the war,” he said. “If they want to rest, they will rest outside public service.”
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Zelenskiy’s deputy chief of staff, announced his own resignation, also without giving reasons. He helped steer the president’s 2019 election campaign and more recently played a role in overseeing regional politics.
The changes are a rare shake-up of a remarkably stable wartime leadership in Kiev. Aside from ousting a spy agency in July, Zelenskiy has largely stuck with his team, built around fellow novice politicians the former television actor brought to power when he was elected in 2019, vowing to eradicate a political class. corrupt.
Kiev says a wave of patriotic sentiment has eased corruption since the invasion of Russia. But the head of Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party vowed on Monday that officials would be arrested in an upcoming anti-corruption campaign, which would resort to martial law if necessary.
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