Ukraine’s government on Tuesday confirmed the resignation of several senior officials amid widespread corruption allegations in what is being described as the biggest mass resignation and bribery scandal since the start of the war.
About a dozen officials have resigned following the massive political reshuffle, following accusations and investigations into everything from bribery to mishandling of food aid funds to embezzlement and the use of expensive cars, while ordinary people suffer in appalling conditions.
A senior presidential adviser and four deputy ministers, including two defense officials and five regional governors, left their posts. Among the regional governors who were sentenced to resign were officials who oversaw regions with heavy fighting, including the regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson.
The Defense Ministry earlier announced the resignation of Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who was in charge of logistical support for the army, following he was accused of awarding food contracts at too high a price.
Shapovalov made a deal with an unknown, suspicious company. In his capacity as Deputy Minister of Defense, his resignation is the most significant and spectacular. Crucially, he would have played a significant role in overseeing billions of dollars in American and European defense aid. He bought military food supplies at inflated prices in a scheme that appeared to be aimed at lining the pockets of contractors and potentially included kickbacks for himself.
While the Department of Defense is still trying “as a technical error” to trivialize the matter – a Politico newspaper exposes the scandal in detail to the readers.
The deputy head of the Zelenskyi administration, Kylo Tymoshenko, was prosecuted for his wasteful lifestyle. The BBC wrotethat “Tymoshenko was involved in several scandals during his tenure, including last October when he was accused of using a car donated to Ukraine for humanitarian purposes for his own purposes”.
From the beginning of December, however, local Ukrainian media outlets, enraged by the posh lifestyle of Ukrainian leaders, while tens of millions were left without power amid Russian aerial bombardments of the country’s power grid, confirmed that Tymoshenko drove in and out of the capital in high-end sports cars.
One channel Not martial law published a series of photos regarding Kijlo Tymoshenko.
The AFP has tried to mitigate forced resignations linked to corruption. The news agency wrote: “Ukraine has long suffered from corruption, including among the political elite, but efforts to eradicate corruption have been overshadowed by Moscow’s all-out war that began in February.”
The scandal is getting bigger not only because of expensive cars. Controversy has also arisen over politicians’ luxury vacations abroad, while Ukrainians who have lost their homes struggle to survive every day.
“Deputy Attorney General Simonenko’s departure comes following media reports say he vacationed in Spain over the winter, allegedly using the car of a Ukrainian businessman.”
Due to the scandal, the government has now reportedly banned senior officials from vacationing abroad.
Just before the wave of resignations, another official named Vasyl Lozinsky was accused of accepting bribes to obtain generators at inflated prices. As Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Community Development, Lozynskiy would have been directly involved in overseeing how billions in Western humanitarian and infrastructure aid were distributed.
“In Transparency International’s 2021 corruption ranking, Ukraine ranks 122 out of 180 – writes a Guardian (Europe’s second most corrupt country, Russia, ranks 136th).
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