by Olena Harmash and Tom Balmforth
KYIV (Reuters) – Volodimir Zelensky removed several senior Ukrainian officials from their posts on Tuesday, in what is the biggest reshuffle in the country since the start of the war with Russia, which the Ukrainian president explained by the need to ” cleanse” harmful internal problems.
The fight against corruption, which plagues Ukraine for a long time, had been relegated to the background, like other domestic political issues, by the offensive launched by Russia on February 24th.
However, this is a central question, as Ukraine has been dependent on Western aid since the start of the war and wants to join the European Union.
The dismissals of several senior officials, including the governors of five regions on the front line against Russian forces, come after the arrest of a deputy infrastructure minister accused of pocketing $ 400,000 in bribes on contracts purchase of generators, the first major scandal uncovered since the start of the war.
Westerners are demanding pledges in the fight against corruption in exchange for the billions of dollars in aid paid to Kyiv. The departures announced on Tuesday are not all linked to allegations of financial malfeasance, however.
“Any internal problem interfering with the state is cleaned up and will be cleaned up. This is what is right, what is necessary for our protection, and it helps our rapprochement with European institutions,” Volodimir Zelensky said Tuesday evening in a daily video address.
The Ukrainian president promised new appointments and additional measures, without giving further details.
“This is systemic work that Ukraine badly needs and which is an integral part of EU integration,” Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal commented earlier.
“Zelensky’s decisions bear witness to the key priorities of the state (…) The president sees and hears society. And he responds directly to a priority demand of public opinion: justice for all”, declared Mikhaïlo Podoliak , adviser to the Head of State, on Twitter.
THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE IMPLICATED
Among the officials who have resigned or been sacked are Deputy Chief of Staff for the Presidency Kirilo Tymoshenko, Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksi Simonenko, and Deputy Defense Minister Viatcheslav Shapovalov.
The governors of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy and Kherson regions were also dismissed.
Vyacheslav Shapovalov, head of supply for Ukrainian troops, resigned after an investigation in the media accusing the Ministry of Defense of overpaying for supplies intended for the army, a means frequently used to embezzle money. While rejecting the charges, he explained that he wanted to maintain confidence in the institution.
Kirilo Tymoshenko did not give a reason for his departure.
The 33-year-old, a member of Volodimir Zelensky’s campaign team, had been deputy chief of staff to Ukraine’s presidency since the former actor’s election in 2019, overseeing regional policies.
According to Ukrainian media, Kirilo Tymoshenko has been involved since the start of the invasion in several scandals related to his personal use of expensive cars. He denied all these accusations.
Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksi Simonenko has been removed from his post “at his request”, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said.
This official was pinned in the media for a family holiday spent in Marbella, in the south of Spain, for ten days during the New Year celebrations. He has not commented publicly on these allegations.
In his video address on Monday evening, Volodimir Zelensky said that Ukrainian representatives would no longer be allowed to travel abroad, apart from government missions.
The Ukrainian president had sacked the head of the internal security services (SBU) and the general prosecutor last July, accusing them of too many cases of treason or collaboration with Russia within their services.
But beyond this episode, the composition of the administration had remained generally stable around the team formed by Volodimir Zelensky when he came to power in 2019.
The former actor and humorist then promised to fight against corruption at all levels, against a background of fed up with public opinion in the face of a series of scandals and questionable practices among the political class in power.
(Report Olena Harmash and Lidia Kelly; French version Kate Entringer and Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Blandine Hénault and Jean Terzian)