Zelensky says personnel changes are being made amid corruption allegations

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KYIV – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says personnel changes are underway at the top and bottom levels, a move that follows the most high-profile corruption allegations since the invasion of Russia nearly a year ago .

Ukraine has a long history of corruption and weak governance.

On Sunday, anti-corruption police said they arrested the deputy infrastructure minister on suspicion of receiving a 400,000 US dollars (S$527,000) bribe for importing generators in September last, an allegation that the minister denies.

Separately, a newspaper investigation accused the Ministry of Defense of overpaying food suppliers for soldiers. The vendor said it made a technical error and no money changed hands.

There are already personnel decisions – some today, some tomorrow – concerning civil servants at different levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in regions and in law enforcement, said Mr. Zelensky said in his nightly video address Monday.

His plans include stepping up monitoring of overseas travel for official business. Several Ukrainian media reported that ministers and senior officials could be sacked imminently.

The corruption scandal could dampen Western enthusiasm for his government, just as European countries are bickering over sending German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Ukraine, one of the most widely used Western tanks, says it needs them to break through Russian lines and retake territory this year.

Ukraine and Russia are both believed to be planning spring offensives to break the stalemate in what has become a war of attrition in eastern and southern Ukraine as the first anniversary nears. of the Russian invasion.

Germany, which must approve re-exports of the Leopard, has held back, wary of moves that could escalate in Moscow. But under strong pressure from some of its partners, Berlin said it was ready to act quickly if there was a consensus among allies.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose country borders Ukraine, said on Monday that Warsaw would seek permission to send the tanks to Kyiv and was trying to board more.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price at a press briefing on Monday dodged repeated questions about Germany’s mistrust of supplying tanks and whether the US would support others countries supplying Leopards without Germany’s approval.

We may hear more from our German allies in the next few hours, in the next few days, he told reporters.

The Kremlin said divisions in Europe over whether to supply Kyiv with tanks showed there was growing nervousness within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance.

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