After receiving billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money, Ukraine has just been rocked by a major corruption scandal.
The Ukrainian government confirmed the resignation of multiple high-ranking officials over corruption allegations yesterday.
A dozen Ukrainian officials have quit, been removed, or were arrested over allegations of bribery, mismanagement of aid funds for purchasing food, and embezzlement.
Some officials have been caught living lavish lifestyles and driving expensive luxury cars while the regular citizens live in bomb shelters and go without power for days at a time.
A top presidential adviser, four deputy ministers including two defense officials, and five regional governors were all forced out of their posts for corruption.
The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, quit before Zelensky could drop the hammer.
He was accused last September of embezzlement of humanitarian aid worth more than $7 million.
Vasyl Lozynsky, a deputy minister with Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry is out as well.
He was arrested for taking a $400,000 bribe regarding the supply of electricity generators.
“I want to be clear: There will be no return to what used to be in the past, to the way various people close to state institutions,” Zelensky said in a statement.
David Arakhamia, the head of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, said:
“Officials at all levels have been constantly warned through official and unofficial channels: focus on the war, help the victims, reduce bureaucracy and stop doing dubious business.
“Many of them have actually listened, but some, unfortunately, did not,” he said in a Telegram statement.
“If it doesn’t work in a civilized way, it will be done according to the laws of wartime.
“This applies both to recent purchases of generators and to fresh scandals in the ministry of defense.”
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, confirms he submitted his resignation to Zelensky. In his IG post he thanks Ze for “the opportunity to do good deeds every minute of every day,” and many others including his family and Ukrainian officials. pic.twitter.com/AwAiH8txMb
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 24, 2023
Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov has resigned over to the food procurement scandal. https://t.co/kP3U8CjHd2
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 24, 2023
According to the BBC:
Deputy Defence Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, following reports he oversaw the purchase of military food supplies at inflated prices from a relatively unknown firm.
The department called this a “technical mistake” and claimed no money had changed hands.
The defence minister himself – Oleksii Reznikov – has been under scrutiny for the same reason.
A host of other top officials were dismissed on Tuesday, including:
Deputy Prosecutor General Oleskiy Symonenko
Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Ivan Lukerya
Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Vyacheslav Negoda
Deputy Minister for Social Policy Vitaliy Muzychenko
And the regional governors of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Sumy and Kherson
Ukraine has a history of corruption and in 2021 Transparency International ranked the country at 122 out of 180 countries in its ranking of corrupt states.
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