Several senior Ukrainian officials have resigned as President Volodymyr Zelensky begins a shake-up of personnel across his government. A top adviser, four deputy ministers and five regional governors left their posts on Tuesday.
Their departures come as Ukraine launches a broad anti-corruption drive. Recently, authorities have seen bribery claims, reports of officials buying food at inflated prices and one figure accused of living a lavish lifestyle. Senior aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Mr Zelensky was responding to a 'key public demand' that justice should apply to everyone.
The first to resign on Tuesday was Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the president's deputy head of office, who oversaw regional policy and had earlier worked on Mr Zelensky's election campaign. He was accused by Ukrainian investigative journalists of using several expensive sports cars throughout the war, though he denies any wrongdoing. Deputy Defence Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, following reports he oversaw the purchase of military food supplies at inflated prices from a relatively unknown firm. The department called this a 'technical mistake' and claimed no money had changed hands.
Other top officials dismissed on Tuesday include Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Ivan Lukerya, Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Vyacheslav Negoda, and the regional governors of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Sumy and Kherson.
Ukraine has a history of corruption and in 2021 Transparency International ranked the country at 122 out of 180 countries in its ranking of corrupt states. A crackdown is one of the EU's key demands if the country is to advance its application to join the bloc. In an address on Sunday, Mr Zelensky promised there would be 'no return to what used to be in the past'. His comments followed the arrest of Ukraine's Deputy Infrastructure Minister Vasyl Lozinskyi on suspicion of accepting a bribe worth over $350,000.
