Ukraine sacks more officials amid corruption claims

• 

The Ukrainian government sacked, on Wednesday, more officials in connection with corruption charges. 

Kiev reported the departure of a senior defense ministry official, as well as five regional prosecutors.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said as quoted by AFP that an official in charge of army procurement, Bodgan Khmelnytsky, had been dismissed after being suspended in December. 

The media has accused the Defense Ministry of signing food contracts at costs two or three times more than the current market rate for basic foodstuffs.

Simultaneously, the Defense Ministry on Tuesday announced the resignation of Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who worked on providing logistical support for the army.

However, the Ministry said, on Wednesday, it was ready to "make procurement more transparent and budget funds more accessible to public control."

On her account, the head of the parliamentary anti-corruption committee Anastasia Radina also stated that the Ministry admitted to committing "errors" related to food contracts and was "checking and examining prices to correct them." 

Separately, the General Prosecutor's Office said it dismissed the regional prosecutors of the southern regions of Poltava, central Kirovograd, and northern Poltava, Sumy, in addition to Chernigiv.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian President reshuffled regional governments, firing governors of Kiev, Dnipro, Sumy regions, as well as heads of the Kiev-controlled parts of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

At the same time, Oleksiy Kuleba, the dismissed governor of the Kiev region, was immediately appointed by Zelensky as deputy chief of his office. Kuleba replaced Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who has been implicated in corruption scandals.

It is noteworthy that a number of Ukrainian officials, including members of Zelensky's office, deputy ministers, and governors, have been dismissed amid high-profile bribery scandals.

Earlier a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, Patrick Ryder, considered that the actions of Ukrainian President Zelensky to dismiss a number of Ukrainian officials in connection with corruption charges is an internal matter.

In response to a question by Al Mayadeen on Tuesday, Ryder denied that the US government is aware of the corruption charges, even if they had a negative impact on the course of the battles there.

Read more: Ukraine PM next to be sacked amid corruption scandal: Reports

It is worth noting that corruption swept Ukraine long before the beginning of the war. Today, corruption plagued Kiev especially as hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and aid stream into the country, and the cost of reconstruction activities is anticipated to be in the billions. Furthermore, many have been warning that foreign weapons being supplied to Ukraine are sold on the black market, most notably in Africa.