The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office quit yesterday, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged to launch a staff shake-up amid high-level corruption allegations during the war with Russia.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko asked to be relieved of his duties, according to an online copy of a decree signed by Zelenskiy and Tymoshenko’s own social media posts.
Neither gave a reason for the resignation.
Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Viacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, local media reported, alleging his departure was linked to a scandal involving the purchase of food for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko also quit.
Tymoshenko joined the presidential office in 2019, after working on Zelenskiy’s media and creative content strategy during his presidential campaign.
Zelenskiy had promised personnel changes in the government, regional administrations and security forces following corruption allegations that emerged after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 last year.
Tymoshenko last year was under investigation relating to his personal use of luxury cars. He was also among officials linked in September last year to the embezzlement of more than US$7 million in humanitarian aid earmarked for the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
He has denied all the allegations.
Zelenskiy vowed to drive out corrupt officials in comments on Sunday, when a deputy minister was dismissed for being part of a network embezzling budget funds.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure later identified the dismissed official as Vasyl Lozynsky, a deputy minister.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said that Ukraine’s focus on the war would not stop his government from tackling corruption.
Zelenskiy, who came to power in 2019 on an anti-establishment and anti-corruption platform, pointed to suspicions in the areas of energy and military procurement.
He said he intended the deputy minister’s dismissal to send “a signal to all those whose actions or behavior violate the principle of justice.”
“I want to be clear: There will be no return to what used to be in the past,” he said.
Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said Lozynsky was relieved of his duties after the anti-corruption agency detained him while he was receiving a US$400,000 bribe for helping to fix contracts related to restoring infrastructure facilities battered by Russian missile strikes.
A statement by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine described Lozynsky as part of “an organized criminal group involved in the embezzlement of budget funds.”
It said its detectives were working to identify the group’s other members.
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