For what? Loud resignations in Ukraine

A series of resonant resignations in Ukraine: from the Office of the President to the Ministry of Defense. Following – the resignation of the regional prosecutors of five regions.

This week on Tuesday, it became known about high-profile resignations in the highest Ukrainian structures: in the Office of the President, the Ministry of Defense, the Prosecutor General’s Office and among the heads of several regions.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko was the first to lose the post of deputy head of the President’s Office, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on his dismissal. The letter of resignation was submitted the day before, and in his Telegram channel Tymoshenko wrote:

“I thank the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky for the trust and the opportunity to do good deeds every day and every minute.”

Tymoshenko has been in the ranks of the Zelensky team since the presidential election campaign, and took the post of deputy head of the presidential office in May 2019. The reasons for the resignation are still unknown, but recently Tymoshenko has become a defendant in a number of corruption scandals. The media, for example, had questions about his real estate and expensive cars. It is worth noting that Tymoshenko was criticized in connection with spending budget funds even before the war, at a time when he oversaw the Great Construction program initiated by the authorities.

The Ministry of Defense was left without Vyacheslav Shapovalov, Deputy Minister for Logistics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – he became the second. The resignation of the deputy was supported by Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov. Shapovalov wrote his resignation against the backdrop of a scandal erupting over the purchase of food for the military on the front line. On Saturday, the media circulated reports that the Ministry of Defense allegedly buys food for the military at significantly inflated prices.

In his resignation letter, Shapovalov wrote that he was leaving due to a great public outcry, but he called the accusations of corruption unsubstantiated manipulations around the topic of providing for the armed forces of Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense called the accusations against the Deputy Minister unfounded, but noted that his resignation was a worthy act in the traditions of European and democratic politics, “a demonstration that defense interests are higher than any cabinets or chairs.” The department said in a statement:

“The Ministry of Defense follows the principle of zero tolerance for corruption, respects democratic control and will provide absolute transparency for any inspections by authorized bodies.”

The Ministry expressed the hope that such responsible decisions, like the resignation of Vyacheslav Shapovalov, will help the Ukrainian authorities maintain the trust of society and international partners. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, urged to carefully check the allegations of corruption against the Ministry of Defense and advised not to shift the responsibility of subordinates to the leader, as this harms the cause and contradicts the principles of NATO. He noted that the military command and control system must be unshakable, especially in times of war.

According to Zaluzhny, with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the needs of the Ukrainian army have grown rapidly, but despite this, the military is provided with ammunition, uniforms and food, of proper quality and in sufficient quantity. The Commander-in-Chief stressed that the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces “professed zero tolerance for corruption”, so any information about its possible manifestations should be carefully checked, legally assessed and appropriately responded to.

The third was Oleksiy Simonenko, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine. The high-profile dismissal is associated with photos on Instagram, where he is captured on vacation in Spanish Marbella. The decree on his resignation at his own request on Tuesday was signed by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin. According to Mikhail Tkach, a journalist for Ukrayinska Pravda, who has sources in law enforcement agencies, Simonenko was on vacation abroad for 10 days. He went to Spain with his wife in the car of the Lviv deputy and businessman Grigory Kozlovsky, accompanied by his bodyguard.

Five heads of regional administrations were also dismissed: Valentin Reznichenko of Dnepropetrovsk, Oleksandr Starukh of Zaporozhye, Dmitry Zhyvitsky of Sumskoy, Yaroslav Yanushevich of Kherson and Oleksiy Kuleba of Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced writes Air Force that from now on Ukrainian officials will not be able to travel abroad for non-state purposes:

“The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has made a fundamental decision regarding the departure of officials abroad. It concerns all officials of the central government, various other levels of local government.”

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