OAN’s Roy Francis
11:26 AM – Saturday, August 12, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he has fired all the regional military recruitment bosses on Friday due to reported corruption.
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Zelenskyy held a meeting with his National Security and Defense Council in order to discuss the corruption reports that had been emerging. The allegations involved military officials, mostly in the recruitment sector.
Already there are 112 criminal proceedings in motion against military recruiting officials according to the Ukrainian president.
“During the inspection of the territorial recruitment centres, law enforcement agencies exposed cases of corruption,” the presidency said.
The issues that Zelenskyy cited included “illicit enrichment, legalization of illegally obtained funds, unlawful benefit, illegal transportation of persons liable for military service across the border.”
“Every ‘military commissioner’ against whom there is a criminal investigation will be held accountable,” he said. “Officials who confused their shoulder straps with profit will definitely be brought to justice.”
As a result all officials in charge of recruitment across every region in the country were let go.
“We are dismissing all regional military commissars,” Zelenskyy said after the meeting with council.
Zelenskyy moved to replace the dismissed officials with soldiers who had been fighting on the front lines or have been injured in battle. He backed his decision by stating that the new hires “can be trusted with this recruitment system.”
“This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery in times of war constitutes high treason,” he said.
The new hires will be chosen and implemented by Ukraine’s top general, Valerii Zluzhnyi, and all candidates will be vetted by the Security Service of Ukraine.
The move is the latest in a series of dismissals by the Ukrainian president due to cited corruption since the war began in 2022.
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