Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is determined to show zero tolerance for corruption to ensure he doesn’t erode trust from Western countries, which keep the country afloat with massive arms shipments and billions in financial aid. This is the picture of the wave of resignations and layoffs that has hit the Ukrainian government, the largest since the February 24 Russian invasion.
Deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko, four deputy ministers and five regional governors have been dismissed from their posts in Ukraine following an alleged corruption scandal in the army as today marks the 11th month since the invasion of Russia.
These are Deputy Ministers of Municipal and Territorial Development Ivan Lukeryu and Vyacheslav Negoda; Deputy Minister of Social Policy Vitaly Muzychenka, Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov.
According to the government representative in parliament Taras Melnychuk, the governors of the central Dnepropetrovsk region Valentin Reznichenko, the southern Zaporizhia region Oleksandr Starukh, the northern Soumy Dmytro Zhivytsky region, the southern Kherson region Yaroslav Yanushevich and the capital Kyiv Oleksiy Kuluba.
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In November, Reznichenko was accused in multiple media outlets of awarding tens of millions of euros worth of road repair contracts to a group co-founded by his fitness trainer girlfriend.
According to press reports, he and his colleagues from the Soumy, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions are under judicial investigation, while Kouleba’s resignation is linked to his forthcoming appointment to the presidential administration. Anatoly Ivankevich and Viktor Vychniov, both deputy heads of Ukraine’s sea and river transport service, also resigned.
“A new division of the cake” has begun in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel, commenting on the news of the resignation of several Ukrainian government officials as part of investigations into alleged episodes of corruption. Of that cake, the narrator adds, there’s only a piece left, but “those insatiable vampires keep sharing it.”
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