During Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced that all managers in the country with regional responsibility for recruitment to the army will be fired. The decision is made after several alarms about corruption in the country’s various recruitment centers, writes the AFP news agency.
“Corruption in military recruitment will be eliminated. The heads of all regional recruiting centers will be dismissed and replaced by brave warriors who have lost their health at the front line but kept their dignity,” the president writes on X after a meeting with the Ukrainian military leadership.
“Threat to national security”
For a long time, the government in the country has worked to try to counter corruption in connection with the ongoing war against Russia.
In another statement, the government states that several cases of corruption have been uncovered during inspections of the country’s recruitment centers. New York Times reports that the country’s state investigative agency announced earlier this week that it had opened 112 preliminary investigations against officials in senior positions.
“It poses a threat to Ukraine’s national security and undermines trust in state institutions,” the statement reads, according to the news agency.
The Security Council of Ukraine wants the army chief to appoint which people are suitable to replace the fired chiefs.
False documents – for $10,000
“This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribes in a time of war are treason,” writes Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Earlier this week, the head of the Kiev region was arrested on suspicion of involvement in a large corruption scandal, according to the American newspaper.
It concerns, among other things, that men who do not want to be drafted into the war can receive false documents that “certify” that they are not fit to serve – for a sum of 10,000 dollars (about 108,000 Swedish kronor).