Five regional governors and four deputy ministers have been removed from their posts in Ukraine, the government announced on Tuesday after an alleged corruption scandal in the army amid the Russian invasion of the country.
According to Taras Melnychuk, representative of the government to the Parliament, the governors of the regions of Dnipropetrovsk (center) Valentin Reznichenko, Zaporizhzhia (south) Oleksandr Starukh, Sumy (north) Dmytro Zhivytsky, Kherson (south) Yaroslav Yanushevich and the capital kyiv, Oleksiï Kouleba, will leave their posts.
Mr Reznichenko was accused by several media outlets in November of awarding road repair contracts worth tens of millions of euros to a group co-founded by his girlfriend working as a fitness trainer.
According to press reports, this man and his colleagues from the regions of Sumy, Kherson and Zaporijjia appear in judicial investigations, while the dismissal of Mr. Kouleba is linked to his next appointment within the presidential administration.
The government also sacked Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov – whose resignation had already been announced earlier on Tuesday -, that of Social Policy Vitali Mouzychenko and two Deputy Ministers of Territorial Development, Ivan Lukeria and Vyacheslav Negoda.
Anatolyi Ivankevich and Viktor Vyshniov, both deputy heads of the Ukrainian maritime and river transport service, were also removed from their posts.
These cascading dismissals and resignations come after press revelations of inflated prices in a food supply contract for the Ukrainian army, the first corruption scandal to break out since the start of the war within the Ministry of Defense.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Monday evening a series of “personnel decisions” in the face of this scandal.
Corruption cases were common before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This scandal comes as Kyiv calls on its Western allies, whose military and financial support is crucial, to send hundreds of tanks to confront Moscow.