2023-09-03 22:00:00
The Ukrainian president announced on Sunday evening the replacement of Oleksiï Reznikov. “The ministry needs new approaches,” he said.
By NJ with AFP Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the replacement of his defense minister, Oleksiï Reznikov, here on the left. © ODD ANDERSEN / AFP Published on 03/09/2023 at 22:00
“I have decided to replace the Minister of Defense of Ukraine”, declared this Sunday, September 3, Volodymyr Zelensky, in his daily address. “Oleksiï Reznikov went through more than 550 days of war. I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and new ways of interacting with the army as much as with civil society at large,” the Head of State continued.
READ ALSOWith the survivors of the Ukrainian frontThis change at the head of the Ministry of Defense comes at the height of the Ukrainian counter-offensive and when Volodymyr Zelensky has promised to strengthen the fight against corruption, which is endemic in Ukraine, in response in particular to the conditions laid down by the European Union to maintain in Kyiv its status as a candidate for membership.
Corruption scandal
Several corruption scandals have recently come to light in the country. One of them involves the Ministry of Defense which, according to Ukrainian media, signed a contract in the fall of 2022 with a Turkish company for the supply of winter uniforms, the price of which tripled after Signature. At the end of August, Oleksiï Reznikov had assured that the prices invoiced corresponded to what was offered by the manufacturers in Turkey. This is the second alleged corruption scandal related to army supplies to rock Ukraine’s Defense Ministry since the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022.
READ ALSOCorruption in Ukraine: Zelensky’s other warAt the end of January, a series of senior Ukrainian officials were removed from their posts after the press revealed that a contract signed by the ministry and relating to the purchase of food products for soldiers showed amounts that were in fact overstated. Oleksiï Reznikov, who then admitted that his ministry’s anti-corruption services had “failed in their task”, retained his post.
Appointed Minister of Defense three months before the Russian invasion, Oleksiï Reznikov had become the face of the Ukrainian war effort, working in particular to convince the Western allies to equip the army of Kiev with heavy tanks, howitzers or systems Patriot air defense.
The successor to Oleksiï Reznikov, a 57-year-old lawyer, will be Roustem Oumerov, Crimean Tatar, former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, he also announced. He “should become the head of the ministry [de la Défense] said the Ukrainian president. “I expect Parliament to support this candidate”.
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