A few weeks before the first anniversary of the start of the war between Russia and Ukrainea corruption scandal led to the resignation of several high-ranking officials in Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, including several governors, Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov, and the Minister of Social Policy.
This began after complaints arose against the governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Valentin Reznichenko, for giving his partner million-dollar road repair contracts. “We have already made personnel decisions regarding officials at various levels in Ministries and other central government bodies, in the regions and in the law enforcement system. Ukraine will not show weakness. The State will not show weakness,” said the president of the European nation in a statement.
Another cause, and possibly the most important, is the payment of inflated food for the consumption of the troops on the battlefront, which is why the Vice Minister of Defense himself, Viacheslav Shapovalov, asked the president to fire him. However, among the complaints there is none against the embezzlement of assistance by the allies of Ukraineequally Zelensky’s government took a tougher stance to show the world that they do not take these actions lightly.
According to Vitaliy Shabunin, director of the Center for Anti-Corruption Action, a kyiv NGO, “a new social pact emerged during the war between civil society, journalists and the government. We are not going to criticize you as we did before, but your reaction to any scandal has to be as harsh as possible.” According to him, the time it took from the presidency of the Nation at war to remove the politician would have broken this pact.
Poland puts pressure on Germany
One of the most important developments in the war, over the last few days, has been the refusal proposed by Germany to allow various countries to send Leopard tanks. This is because the vehicles are created in German territory and need authorization from the Berlin government to be sent to the battlefront.
Now, from the Polish government they indicated that, despite having asked for permission, and regardless of the message they give, this consent is “of second degree importance.” “Even if they don’t give us permission, we are going to send the tanks to the front, but first we have to form a small coalition of countries,” said Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of the European country.