Mass Resignations Rock Ukrainian Government Amid Corruption Scandals

Several senior Ukrainian officials announced their resignation Tuesday, Jan. 24, as the defense ministry reels from corruption scandals and the presidency warned of mounting anti-graft measures.

 The resignations are as follows:

 Vyacheslav Shapovalov, deputy defense minister

Shapovalov was in charge of logistical support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s (AFU). The head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Olexiy Reznikov, accepted the resignation of his deputy.

 This occured after the publication of a an investigation by Ukrainian media outlet ZN (Mirror Weekly). Yuri Nikolov, the report's author, revealed an alleged scam involving officials at the Ministry of Defense using a dummy corporation to overprice food products for the army.

 The story was based on a leak from a source within the AFU. According to the publication, the contract price was Hr.13 billion ($330 million),

 “The most common products turned out to be overpriced two to threefold,” the report claims.

 You can read more about this story here.

 Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Presidential office

 In his resignation statement, Tymoshenko said he was quitting "of his own volition." President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on the dismissal of Tymoshenko.

 The official reason for his resignation is unknown. However, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker, told Kyiv Post that Tymoshenko resigned due to a scandal last year in which he was caught driving a Porsche Taycan 2021, worth in the region of $100,000.

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Oleksandr Heilo, who has previously shared pro-Russian publications on social media, allegedly demanded a bribe in exchange for allowing the evacuation of frontline equipment in Donbas.

 Tymoshenko said that he drove the 3-4 times and returned it. In an exclusive interview for Kyiv Post, he explained that he was just testing the car.

 "I’ll explain. During the summer, my wife and I decided to sell one of our cars and buy an electric one. But we gave up this idea four months before the journalistic investigation, precisely from a moral point of view," Tymoshenko said.

 Zhelezniak said: “After the scandal with [the] Porsche, our international partners have long hinted that [the task of] rebuilding the country and Tymoshenko cannot stand side by side.”

 In the early years of Zelensky's presidency, Tymoshenko was the face of the so-called Big Construction program – a manifold overhaul of Ukraine’s aging infrastructure. However, after facing claims of corruption, the initiative has sparked controversy and Tymoshenko himself got involved in two scandals. 

 In Oct. 2022, Bihus Info journalists identified that he personally used one of the Chevrolet Tahoe cars that Ukraine received from General Motors to assist with evacuating people from the frontline. After attempts to justify his actions, Tymoshenko said he would transfer the car to the front.

 In a recent exclusive interview for Kyiv Post, he claimed that what happened was part of an information campaign conducted against him.

 Oleksiy Symonenko, deputy prosecutor general of Ukraine

 The office of the Prosecutor General clarified that Symonenko resigned "of his own volition." The head of the department, Andrei Kostin, accepted his resignation.

 Simonenko quit after journalists reported that, at the end of 2022, he went on vacation to Spain, driving the Mercedes of a businessman from Lviv.

 In an exclusive comment to Kyiv Post, Zhelezniak confirmed that the vacation was indeed the reason for his dismissal.

 Ivan Lukerya, deputy minister of community development, territories, and infrastructure

 According to Lukerya's Facebook post, he decided to resign at the beginning of this year, but due to political and bureaucratic circumstances, the legal registration of his resignment was postponed.

No additional information for Lukerya’s resignation is currently known, but it follows another deputy head of this ministry, Vasil Lozinskyi, being fired on Sunday.

 The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) claims that Lozynskyi received $400,000 for lobbying the contracts for purchasing equipment and machinery at inflated prices.

 “As the investigation found out, a number of officials of central and regional executive bodies decided to appropriate part of state funds. To do this, they conspired with a group of intermediaries and ensured the conclusion of contracts… Those, as the investigation found out, were supposed to give the amount mentioned above to civil servants as a reward for this,” NABU reported in a statement.

 You can read more about this story here.

Additionally:

·      Vitalii Muzuchenko was dismissed from the position of Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine;

·      Viacheslav Nehoda was dismissed from the position of Deputy Minister of Development of Hromadas and Territories of Ukraine;

·      Anatolii Ivankevych was dismissed from the position of Deputy Head of the State Service of Maritime and River Transport of Ukraine;

·      Viktor Vyshniov was dismissed from the position of Deputy Head of the State Service of Maritime and River Transport of Ukraine for Issues of Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization.

The dismissal of the heads of regional administrations

 During a meeting on Jan. 24, the Cabinet of Ministers also dismissed five heads of regional state administrations. These individuals are:

·       Valentin Reznichenko, head of Dnipropetrovsk regional administration.

·       Olexander Starukh, head of Zaporizhzhia regional administration.

·       Olexiy Kuleba, head of Kyiv regional administration.

·       Dmytro Zhivitsky, head of Sumy regional administration.

·       Yaroslav Yanushevich, head of Kherson regional administration.

 Meanwhile, Oleksii Sobolev has been appointed Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization.

 According to Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the President's office, Zelensky's decisions indicate the key priorities of the state.

 "No ‘closed eyes.’ In times of war, everyone should understand their responsibility. The president sees and hears society. And directly responds to a key public demand – justice for all…," said Podolyak.

 On Jan. 23, Zelensky, in his daily video address, mentioned that large-scale personnel changes in Ukraine would soon affect officials of various levels in ministries and other central government structures, both in the regions and in the law enforcement system.