The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, announced this Friday the dismissal of all those responsible for the country’s regional recruitment offices due to the high number of cases of corruption in these types of centers.
“The system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery in wartime are treasonous,” Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.
The decision was made at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine chaired by Zelensky and must be implemented by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny.
The Ukrainian president explained in his message that corruption proceedings have currently been opened against 112 officers from these recruitment centers, while there are suspicions against 33 of them, according to data from the different security forces and the prosecutor’s office.
“Some accepted cash, others cryptocurrencies, that is the (only) difference. Cynicism is the same everywhere,” Zelenski denounced in a video message also broadcast through Telegram and has promised that all those who have accepted bribes must assume “full responsibility” before justice.
The management of these offices should correspond in the future to “soldiers who have gone through the front or who cannot be in the trenches because they have lost their health, they have lost their limbs, but they have preserved their dignity,” he said.
Before their appointment, the new officials will also be investigated by the Ukrainian security services, the president added.
In recent months, several cases of corruption have emerged in which those responsible for these centers have acquired luxury goods and properties thanks to bribes paid by those who want to get rid of compulsory military service.
Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Pavluk announced on July 26 that the special team that is investigating these institutions – created in June by order of Zelenski – has received more than 2,300 complaints for various types of irregularities.
On August 3, the Ukrainian president already harshly criticized the work of these offices, where according to him, according to preliminary investigations, numerous cases of “disgusting” abuses have been detected.
