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Flashy cars and fake prices: Here's Ukraine's warning to officials shirking wartime duties

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's top aide said officials who shirk wartime duties will be quickly removed after a series of scandals and graft allegations were revealed this week.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is heading an anti-corruption campaign, with several officials removed from office over the past week. Source: Getty / Yuriy Dyachyshyn

Ukrainian government officials who shirk their duties during wartime will be quickly removed, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday amid a crackdown on corruption.

More than a dozen officials have been removed this week following a series of scandals and graft allegations.

Political analysts said Mr Zelenskyy needs to show Western partners and war-weary Ukrainians that he is serious about punishing misrule.

"Everyone should understand their level of responsibility to the country and nation during the war. Whoever forgets about it receives a quick reaction," said Andriy Yermak, head of Mr Zelenskyy's office.

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"This will happen to everyone who allows themselves to forget (their duties), regardless of names and offices," Mr Yermak wrote on Twitter.

Among the most high-profile cases was that of a deputy defence minister who resigned following a report, which he denied, that his ministry paid inflated prices to feed troops.

A presidential adviser who had been called out by local media for driving flashy cars also quit, as did a senior prosecutor who Ukrainian media reported had gone on holiday to Marbella in Spain, flouting martial law.

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed, millions uprooted, and cities reduced to rubble since Russian forces invaded Ukraine 11 months ago.


2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters, SBS



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