Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Monday that government officials would be banned from traveling abroad on vacation or for any other unofficial purpose, a move meant to show that
corruption will not be allowed to
undermine the country's defense.
Zelensky said in his late-night speech that he had signed a decree approving the decision of the country's National Security and Defense Council, following the dismissal of a deputy minister over the weekend on allegations of
embezzlement.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian President's office, after the president promised a staff shakeup amid high-level corruption allegations.
(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
The president said that a border-crossing
procedure
for officials at all levels of government would be drawn up in a few days.
Ukraine is gearing up for offensives this spring, with the allies preparing to send billions of dollars worth of material to kyiv, including some of their most advanced weaponry.
Corruption plagued Ukraine long before Russia launched its full-scale invasion 11 months ago.
Rooting out corruption has remained a
top priority
throughout the war, with hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of arms and aid flooding the country, and the cost of reconstruction efforts estimated in the billions of dollars.
Zelensky, who came to power in 2019 vowing to crack down on corruption, said on Sunday he hoped the deputy minister's removal would send a "
signal
to all those whose actions or behavior violate the principle of justice."
"I want to make this clear: there will be no going back to what used to be in the past," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian infrastructure
ministry
identified the sacked official as Vasil Lozinski, the area's deputy minister.
His departure came after Ukraine's top anti-corruption agency and anti-corruption prosecutor's office "exposed and put an end to the activities of an organized criminal group involved in the
embezzlement of budget funds
," according to Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Ukrainian infrastructure minister. .
The agency, the National Anti-Corruption Office of Ukraine, said Lozinski was part of that group and had been detained while receiving a
$400,000 bribe
for helping with equipment and machinery purchase contracts.
Detectives were working to identify other people involved in the organization, the agency said in a statement.
The contracts were related to the restoration of infrastructure facilities and the supply of electricity, heating and water during the winter, the anti-corruption prosecutor's office said in a statement.
In recent months, Russia has bombarded Ukraine with attacks on infrastructure aimed at sowing misery among the civilian population.
Even as Russia's war against Ukraine rages on with no end in sight, Ukraine's allies have been grappling with difficult questions about rebuilding the country:
Who will pay for what and who should control the process and funds?
What kind of external supervision of money should be required?
The European Union has made Ukraine's candidacy conditional on a review of the rule of law, justice and corruption.
In addition to expressing concern about the risk that corruption could tarnish postwar reconstruction efforts, some US officials have raised concerns that US weapons delivered to Ukraine could be
diverted or stolen
for resale.
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