As the conflict with Russia approaches a crucial phase, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sacked all of the directors of Ukraine's regional army recruitment offices in an extensive anti-corruption action.
After Russia invaded Ukraine 18 months ago, Zelenskyy expanded his fight against corruption by announcing their firing in Kyiv on Friday.
He said that a state probe of facilities all around Ukraine revealed official violations, including transferring draft-eligible males across the border despite a restriction on their leaving the country during the conflict.
Zelenskyy said that 112 criminal charges had been started against members of the draught board who were allegedly receiving bribes and indulging in other corrupt behaviour. The strong language he employed was likely well received by Ukrainians horrified by instances of corruption during the war. He said that those sacked will be replaced with veterans of the conflict and troops who had been injured at the front. "This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason," he said.
Zelenskyy previously sacked top officials who were thought to be corrupt. That communicated to Kyiv's tens of billions of dollars in military funding from Western partners that Ukraine is serious about combating the corruption that has long plagued the nation's armed services.
When a media investigation concerning Odesa's regional draught commissar Yevhen Borysov was released in June of last year, it sparked a controversy, bringing the long-simmering problem of corruption in Ukraine's draught system into the light.
According to the inquiry, Borysov's family members reportedly had expensive cars and real properties worth millions of euros in Spain. Borysov said that he was innocent and that his family's purchases had nothing to do with him.
After the revelation, dozens of draught board employees were imprisoned by Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation and Security Service on corruption and bribery suspicions.
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