Kiev – In Ukraine, there has been a series of resignations and dismissals in the government and in a number of regional military administrations.
According to the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleg Nemchinov in his telegraph channel, the personnel decisions were taken at a meeting of the Ukrainian government on January 24.
“Vyacheslav Shapovalov, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine , Ivan Lukerya, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Negoda, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine , Vitaliy Muzychenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, were removed from their posts as deputy ministers,” said Oleg Nemchinov.
He also said that the draft decrees of the President of Ukraine on the dismissal of the heads of the regional military administrations of Dnipropetrovsk, Kiev, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson were supported at the government meeting. At the same time, Oleksiy Sobolev was appointed to of Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
About Other Terminations and Resignations
A decree on the dismissal of Kyrylo Tymoshenko from of Deputy Head of the Office of the President has been published on the website of the President of Ukraine. The document is dated January 23.
On January 24, news came of the dismissal of Deputy Prosecutor General Alexei Simonenko.
“Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin has signed an order for the voluntary dismissal of Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko from his administrative position,” the statement said, reports RBC-Ukraine.
Oleksiy Symonenko, according to the Ukrainian press, was on holiday abroad, despite Volodymyr Zelenskyyy’s ban on civil servants leaving Ukraine for non-work purposes.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry website reports that the head of the department, Oleksiy Reznikov, supported the request of his deputy Vyacheslav Shapovalov to be removed from his post.
“Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who was in charge of logistics for the Armed Forces of Ukraine , asked to be fired so as not to pose a threat to the stable supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine following a campaign of accusations related to the foodservice purchase,” the agency’s website said in a January 24 statement.
Previously, on the website of the Ukrainian publication Zerkalo Nedeli, an article was published “Rear rats of the Ministry of Defense during the war” saw “more on products for the Ukrainian armed forces than in civilian life”, which indicates that the cost of goods for the military is 2-3 times higher than in civilian supermarkets of regional centers.
The text notes that, for example, potatoes in stores cost 8-9 hryvnias, and the Ministry of Defense ordered them for 22 hryvnias per kilogram, the retail price of eggs in stores in Kiev is seven hryvnias each, for the defense department they are delivered at seventeen hryvnias each, etc. .d..
The Servant of the People parliamentary faction said there were “certain distortions and distortions of facts in the information published in the media”.
“The fact is that the ministry does not buy food, it buys catering services for military personnel,” Fedor Venislavsky, an MP from the Servant of the People faction, told Ukrainian National News.
He also noted that “in general, from the case of these unfortunate eggs, it’s clear that all is not as it seemed”.
Fundamental decision for officials
As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyy noted in his video message, “in a society that feels justice, the unification of peoples is always stronger.”
“Today the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dismissed the Deputy Minister, who was denounced by NABU employees. […] And I want this to be our signal to anyone whose actions or behavior violate the principle of justice,” the Ukrainian leader said January 22 in a video message.
He stressed that this week will be the time for appropriate decisions.
“Regarding energy and purchases. Concerning the relations between the central government and the regions. As for purchases for the army. Etc. The company will receive full information and the state will take the necessary strong measures. […] I want it to be clear: a return to what it once was, to the way different people lived, close to state institutions, or those who spent their whole life chasing after a chair… there will be no return. said Volodymyr Zelenskyy .
In a Jan. 23 video message, he said that “there is a fundamental National Security and Defense Council decision on the departure of officials overseas.”
“This applies to all central government officials, to various other levels of local government. This applies to law enforcement officers, people’s deputies, prosecutors and all those who should work for the state and in the state. If they want to rest now, they will rest outside state service. Civil servants will no longer be able to travel abroad on vacation or for any other non-state purpose,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Deferred changes and more
political scientist Alexei Yakubin believes that personnel changes in government can be explained by the effect of late decisions, as well as reaction to societal demands and the need for anti-corruption actions.
“Why does this seem to be happening en masse?” These are postponed changes that were planned for the fall, and the authorities have spoken about them. For example, about the merging of ministries, then it was postponed, but now they have come back to this issue. Perhaps we will see changes from ministers. So far, we are seeing a kind of cascade of resignations in the government and the deputy head of the president’s office,” Alexei Yakubin told Voice of America’s Russian Service correspondent.
He also notes that people close to President Volodymyr Zelenskyyy are actively monitoring public reactions to a number of scandals involving officials at different levels.
“Concerning their activities, going abroad, how effective is their work in certain areas, with energy, logistics? These questions have their own name and surname, and Zelenskyyy, as you can understand, decided to give a personal answer, ”Aleksey Yakubin believes.
Activation of the work of anti-corruption bodies at this stage, according to him, occurred against the background of the fact that Ukraine receives up to fifty percent of the budget from Western partners.
“And the Western partners have more and more questions, if we give up to 50% of the funds to the Ukrainian budget, then they should be spent transparently and by people who can ensure such transparency. I think that the cascade of personnel changes is partly related to this.The authorities, now realizing our critical dependence on obtaining these resources, and in order to avoid such problems in the future, carry out a such a large turnover,” explains Alexei Yakubin.
About scandals and resignations
Director of the World Policy Institute Eugene Magda notes that the rotation process in Ukrainian government offices was preceded by an impressive series of scandals.
“And so Zelenskyyy’s team decided to respond in their usual way. This reaction manifests itself in the dismissal, in my opinion, of secondary characters. I have followed Ukrainian politics for a long time, and I do not remember when the dismissal of the deputy head of the presidential office would have caused such a stir,” Evgeny Magda told the Voice of America Russian Service correspondent.
He notes that in a number of cases, both the company and the relevant authorities may have questions about resignations and dismissals.
“About Yanushevich [глава Херсонской областной военной администрации] Even at the time of the appointment, there were doubts. By Reznichenko [глава Днепропетровской ОВА] There was a huge corruption scandal. In Zaporizhzhia, where the old woman is fired, there was also a resounding scandal, ”emphasizes Yevhen Magda.
At the same time, the political scientist believes that there is a demand in society to increase justice in a war.
“On the other hand, I don’t see Ukraine being a parliamentary-presidential republic. I do not see that Denys Shmyhal, as head of government, faced with such a flood of scandals and resignations, has made at least a ritual gesture that he resigns to speak in parliament and give an account of his work. Maybe no one would have fired him, because there is a mono-majority, but politically, for him, such a gesture would be correct. But, in my opinion, we are not talking about that,” says Yevhen Magda.
