The main news of recent days in Ukraine is not related to the front, but to corruption scandals and resignations of top government officials. Who are these people and why are they being fired now?
The first significant resignation is Alexey Arestovich, who resigned as a freelance adviser to the Office of the President. On January 17, he published a photo of his handwritten resignation letter with the comment: "I want to show an example of civilized behavior: a fundamental mistake means resignation." On the same day, his request was granted by the OP.
On the morning of January 18, a terrible tragedy occurred in Brovary, due to the fall of a rotorcraft died leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi, his first deputy Yevhen Yenin and state secretary Yuriy Lubkovich.
The next day, January 19, NABU and SAP informed the former chairman of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolev on suspicion of taking possession of more than 2018 million hryvnias in 229, which he wrote out to himself as a bonus.
Last Saturday, January 21, came out material about abuses in the procurement of products for the Armed Forces by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which caused a wide resonance in society. In two days, the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov provided his first comments in this regard: "Something similar happened in the fall, when a number of assets critically important for defense capability were handed over to the ministry. We were attacked for absolutely no reason in the summer when rumors about insufficient arms control were being spread. That is, nothing new."
But already today Deputy Oleksiy Reznikov — Vyacheslav Shapovalov resigned. The Ministry of Defense commented on Shapovalov's dismissal: "Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who was responsible for the rear support of the Armed Forces, asked to be released in order not to create threats to the stable support of the Armed Forces as a result of the campaign of accusations related to the purchase of food services. The Minister of Defense supported Shapovalov's request for his dismissal from the post of deputy."
The next high-profile resignation took place today - the deputy head of the President's Office Kirill Tymoshenko wrote a resignation letter. It is difficult to talk about the reasons, but information has recently spread in the media that NABU has been investigating corruption at Velika Budivnitsa for a long time and is already approaching the final stage, and Mr. Tymoshenko was responsible for this line of work in OP.
Currently, mass media is also expanding information, that they plan to appoint Oleksiy Kuleba, the current head of the Kyiv Regional Military-Civil Administration, to the post of Kyril Tymoshenko.
In addition, on January 22, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed him at an extraordinary meeting Vasyl Lozynskyi from the post of First Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine. In the morning of the same day, Lozynskyi was detained by NABU while accepting a $400 bribe as part of the case of exposing a criminal group embezzling budget funds.
At today's meeting, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to dismiss several more deputy ministers: Ivan Lukerya - Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine; Vyacheslav Negoda - Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine; Vitaly Muzychenko - Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine.
The deputy general prosecutor of Ukraine was also dismissed today Oleksiy Simonenko. Office of the Prosecutor General the, that the order on the dismissal of Oleksiy Symonenko from the post of Deputy Prosecutor General has already been signed by Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin. The reason for Simonenko's release is cited by the mass media as an investigation "Ukrainian Pravda" about an official's vacation in Spain for the New Year holidays.
And that's not all. The Cabinet of Ministers also today, January 24, approved the dismissal of five heads of regional military administrations. By information representative of the government in the parliament, Taras Melnychuk, refers to the heads of the Dnipropetrovsk OVA — Valentin Reznichenko, Zaporozhye — Oleksandr Starukh, Kyivska — Oleksiy Kuleba, Sumy — Dmytro Zhivytskyi and Yaroslav Yanushevich, who heads the Kherson regional administration.
Head of Dnipropetrovsk OVA Valentin Reznichenko, according to information The media is a suspect in criminal proceedings on the embezzlement of 1,5 billion hryvnias for the repair of roads in the region.
In addition, Melnychuk announces his dismissal — Ivankevich Anatoly from the post of Deputy Head of the State Service of Sea and Inland Water Transport and Shipping of Ukraine and Viktora Vyshnyov from the position of Deputy Head of the State Service of Sea and Inland Water Transport and Shipping of Ukraine for issues of digital development, digital transformations and digitalization.
We will remind you that it was yesterday President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in his appeal announced large resignations and announced the adoption decision Councils of National Security and Defense regarding the departure of officials abroad. "If they want to rest now, they will rest outside the state service. Officials will no longer be able to go abroad for vacation or for some other non-state purpose," the president emphasized.
The main question regarding personnel purges today is whether Zelensky himself initiated such decisions or is it required by external partners?
If earlier in the Office of the President they wanted to get rid of a minister or head of the region, Zelensky usually did not record a video about it (as was the case yesterday). Even the dismissal of Venediktova and Bakanov was announced as a decision, not as an announcement.
In addition, Ukrainian society in a state of war is limited in its rights, and even in the expression of at least minimal dissatisfaction. People can't go out on a picket today with a protest, that would be an impetus for the authorities on personnel issues. That is why, probably, the latest resignations take place under external pressure.
