According to an exclusive account by a former counselor to the Ukrainian Parliament published in Daily Express US, the regional army chiefs of Ukraine purchased expensive vehicles and homes in Spain as their compatriots perished on the front lines.
Mykola Volkivskyi claims that as a result, President Volodymyr Zelensky today fired all of Ukraine’s provincial military recruitment commanders.
According to Zelensky, an examination of the recruitment offices turned up violations ranging from aiding males of military age who were entitled to leave the country to avoid serving in the military to unlawful enrichment.
Volkivskyi, who served as the chairman of the Commission of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Parliament from 2014 to 2021, claimed the decision was widely “expected” in an interview with Daily Express US.
He said: “The most outrageous thing was that certain military commissars began to enrich themselves and buy new real estate abroad – particularly in Spain – and expensive luxury cars from the beginning of the war. It outraged Ukrainian society.”
He claimed that this all occurred while “Ukrainian soldiers were dying at the front” and that there were “constant problems” with many officials.
According to Mr. Volkivskyi, Zelensky would develop a system where wounded troops who are no longer combat effective would instead oversee the regional military recruitment centers. He will do this through his top general Valery Zaluzhny.
He said: “The idea began to spread among Ukrainians that it would be good to send physically healthy military commissariat employees to the front line and that their positions should be filled by wounded soldiers who were physically unable to return to the army but could still carry out their professional duties in the military commissariat.”
He added the change should help “overcome any corruption risks” associated with the job of deciding who serves in Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Speaking on the matter, Zelensky said in a statement: “This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason.”
This is not the first time officials have been sacked for corruption in Ukraine, which has been fighting to eradicate widespread corruption as it looks to the West.
Nine high-ranking officials were fired earlier this year after they were charged with accepting bribes and having vacations in Spain and France while the country was at war.
Ukraine wants to join the EU, which has praised improvements in the nation but issued a warning that anti-corruption measures were not being implemented quickly enough.
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