Ukraine corruption scandal causes exit of top officials during war

Ukraine’s biggest government shake-up since the start of the war comes after US officials said Washington approved supplying Kyiv with M1 Abrams tanks amid international reluctance to send the tanks to the battlefield against the Russians. was ready to give.

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Zelensky was elected in 2019 on an anti-authoritarian and anti-corruption platform in a country beset by corruption, and the new allegations come as Western allies are pouring billions of dollars to help the fight against Kyiv. Moscow,

Given Ukraine’s rampant corruption, officials in many countries, including the United States, have called for greater accountability for aid. While Zelensky and his allies portray the resignations and firings as evidence of their efforts to sabotage them, the wartime scandal could play into Moscow’s political attacks on the leadership in Kyiv.

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On the streets of the capital, Serhiy Bochkarev, a 28-year-old translator, welcomed the move.

“Corruption is totally unacceptable during war because people are giving their lives fighting the Russians and defending the homeland,” he said.

The shake-up also touched Zelensky’s office. Its deputy chief, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, heads for his frequent battlefield updates, with the president pledging to address corruption allegations – including some related to military spending – that embarrass officials and Ukraine’s EU and May slow down efforts to join NATO.

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According to an online decree signed by Zelensky and Tymoshenko’s own social media posts, Tymoshenko asked to be relieved of her duties. The reason for the resignation was not even mentioned.

Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, with local media reporting that his departure was linked to a scandal involving the procurement of food for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Simonenko also resigned.

In total, four deputy ministers and five governors of front-line provinces were set to leave their posts, the country’s cabinet secretary said on the Telegram messaging app.

Officials did not announce any criminal charges. There was no immediate explanation.

Government positions were already undermined by the death of the interior minister and others led by the ministry that oversees Ukraine’s police and emergency services in a helicopter crash last week.

Tymoshenko joined the presidential office in 2019 after working on Zelensky’s media strategy during his presidential campaign. He was under investigation regarding his personal use of luxury cars and was among officials a National Anti-Corruption Bureau investigator of Ukraine linked to the embezzlement of more than $7 million in humanitarian aid earmarked for the southern Zaporizhzhya region in September . He has denied the allegations.

On Sunday, a deputy minister of the infrastructure ministry, Vasyl Lozinsky, was dismissed for his alleged involvement in a network of embezzlement of budget funds. According to Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency detained him after he accepted a $400,000 bribe to help fix contracts to restore facilities hit by Russian missile attacks. In addition to not communicating with other witnesses in his case, he was placed under house arrest, asked to surrender his passport and ordered to wear a monitoring device.

In an address on Sunday, Zelensky said Ukraine’s focus on the Russian invasion would not deter his government from tackling corruption, pledging: “What used to be in the past will not return.”

Analysts say his message was that corruption will not be tolerated.

“When corruption is rampant, it is very difficult to save the country,” Andriy Borovik, executive director of Transparency International Ukraine, a nonprofit that fights corruption, told The Associated Press.

Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told the AP that the shake-up was “intended to remind officials of the entire (power) vertical that the authorities plan to continue fighting corruption in Ukraine, especially during the war, when the country Literally everything is in short supply.”

Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center independent think tank, said Ukrainian officials and Western officials “cannot turn a blind eye to the latest scandals.” He said the corruption involved supplies for the military so the shake-up was “intended to calm and show Western partners”. Brussels and Washington that their assistance is being used effectively.”

Transparency International, in its 2021 report on worldwide corruption, ranked Ukraine 122nd out of 180 countries, including the 180 most corrupt. Russia He is at 136th position.

Pervasive corruption has long made foreign investors and governments wary of doing business with Ukraine. Despite a proliferation of anti-corruption panels and measures, according to the US State Department’s 2020 country report, allegations of corruption in non-profits, courts and business surfaced among Ukrainian journalists and high levels of government under Zelensky.

A major corruption scandal could jeopardize billions of dollars spent by the US and its allies in Ukraine to arm Ukrainian militias, pay civil servants and keep the lights on. It could risk drowning what has been bipartisan popular and political support for Ukraine from the United States.

“We welcome the prompt action that President Zelensky is taking in this matter, as well as the effective action of Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions, civil society and the media, to ensure effective monitoring and accountability of public procurement and hiring . The public trust is at stake,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement.

Last June, the European Union agreed to move Ukraine toward membership in the bloc. To join, countries must meet economic and political conditions, including a commitment to the rule of law and other democratic principles.

Ukraine has also applied to join NATO, but the military alliance has been uninviting, partly because of the country’s disputed borders, shortcomings in the defense establishment, and partly because of corruption issues.

Meanwhile, in what would be a reversal, US officials said the Biden administration is set to approve sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in a decision that could be announced as early as Wednesday, although it could take months or years to deliver the tanks. may seem ,

US announcement expected to coordinate with Germany adding that it would accept Poland’s request to transfer German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, according to an official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been made public.

German officials declined to comment on reports of the deal. News weekly Der Spiegel reported on Tuesday, without citing a source, that Germany would provide Ukraine with at least a company of 2 Leopard tanks from its army stocks.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to address parliament on Wednesday and answer questions from lawmakers, many of whom are pressing the government to join allies in providing tanks to Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday that Poles – and other Western allies whom he did not recognize – are already training Ukrainian troops poland on leopards.

Also on Tuesday, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto suggested that his country could consider joining NATO without neighboring Sweden if Turkey blocks a joint effort to enter the military alliance. Although he later backed down, his comments were the first time a major government official in any Nordic country expressed doubts about becoming a NATO member, as the alliance seeks to present a united front to counter Russia’s aggression. .

Sweden And Finland After the invasion Moscow rushed to apply for NATO membership, abandoning its long-standing non-aligned policy. Their accession needs approval from all current NATO members, including Turkey, which has so far blocked expansion, saying Sweden especially needs to crack down on exiled Kurdish militants and their sympathizers.

The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification. Only the headline has been changed.