Kyiv (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said personnel changes are underway at the top and bottom levels, in the wake of the most high-profile graft allegations since the Russian invasion that threaten to dampen Western enthusiasm for the Kyiv government.
Reports of a new scandal in Ukraine, which has a long history of shaky governance, come as European countries squabble over giving Kyiv German-made Leopard 2 tanks – the backbone of armies across Europe that Ukraine says it needs to break through Russian lines and regain control. . province.
“There are already personnel decisions – some today, some tomorrow – regarding officials at various levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in regions and in law enforcement,” Zelensky said in his Monday night video address.
Zelensky, who did not specify which officials would be replaced, said his plans include tightening controls on travel abroad on official business.
Several Ukrainian media have reported that ministers and senior officials may be sacked on the spot.
On Sunday, anti-corruption police said they had detained the deputy minister of infrastructure on suspicion of taking a $400,000 bribe on importing generators last September, an allegation the minister denies.
A journalist’s investigation accused the Ministry of Defense of overpaying suppliers for soldiers’ food. The supplier said he made a technical error and no money was changed.
David Arakhami, head of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, said officials should “focus on the war, help the victims, cut back on bureaucracy and stop shady business”.
“We will definitely be actively interning this spring. If the humanitarian approach doesn’t work, we will do it in line with martial law,” he said.
Spring will be decisive
On the battlefront, the front lines had been largely immobilized for two months despite heavy casualties on both sides.
Ukraine says Western tanks will give its ground forces the firepower to break through Russian defensive lines and resume their advance. But the Western allies were unable to reach an agreement on arming Kyiv with tanks, fearing moves that might lead to Moscow’s escalation.
Berlin, which must agree to re-export the Leopard, said it was ready to move quickly if there was a consensus among allies.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose country borders Ukraine, said Warsaw would ask permission to send Leopard tanks to Kyiv and try to get others on board.
The European Union’s top diplomat said on Monday that Germany would not prevent the re-export of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
US lawmakers have pressured their government to export M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, saying even a symbolic number would help push European allies to do the same.
Britain said it would supply 14 Challenger 2 tanks. French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out the possibility of sending Leclerc tanks.
Moscow sought to exert its own pressure.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “all countries that are involved, directly or indirectly, in pumping weapons into Ukraine and upgrading its technology bear responsibility” for the continuation of the conflict.
Both Ukraine and Russia are believed to be planning spring offensives to break the stalemate in what has become a war of attrition in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“If the planned major Russian offensive fails this time, it will be ruin for Russia and Putin,” Vadym Skipetsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said in an interview with the Delphi news website.
One person was killed and two wounded in Russian shelling of a residential neighborhood in the town of Chasev Yar on Monday that destroyed at least nine high-rise buildings, Pavlo Kirilenko, the governor of Donetsk region, told Telegram.
“The Russians deliberately terrorize and kill civilians. They will pay a heavy price,” he said.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
“Action against the West”
In the 11 months since invading Ukraine, Russia has changed its rhetoric on war from a process of “disarming” and “disarming” its neighbor to portraying it as a defense against an aggressive West. Kyiv and its Western allies describe it as an unprovoked act of aggression.
On Monday, the new general in charge of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine warned that modern Russia had never seen such an “intensity of military hostilities,” forcing it to carry out offensive operations.
“Today our country and its armed forces are acting against the entire collective West,” Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, told Argumenti iFacti news site.
He said the military reforms, which he announced in mid-January, could be modified to respond to threats to Russia’s security, which include aspirations of Sweden and Finland to join NATO and “using Ukraine as a tool to wage a hybrid war against our country”.
Ukraine has imposed sanctions on 22 Russians associated with the Russian Orthodox Church over what President Zelensky said was their support for genocide under the cloak of religion.
Reporting by Reuters offices. Writing by Costas Petas and Himani Sarkar; Editing by Stephen Coates
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