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KYIV — Ukraine’s protection minister resigned Monday, hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky introduced plans to switch him amid a widening corruption probe and slow-moving counteroffensive in opposition to Russian invaders within the nation’s southeast.
Zelensky stated on Sunday evening that he’ll ask parliament to approve his nomination of Rustem Umerov, presently head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, to switch Oleksii Reznikov, who has served as protection minister since November 2021 and was liable for overseeing billions in weapons and different navy help from Ukraine’s worldwide companions.
“I consider the ministry wants new approaches and different codecs of interplay with each the navy and society as a complete,” Zelensky stated.
Reznikov’s elimination comes after months of hypothesis that he can be ousted. Though Reznikov has not been charged personally in ongoing corruption investigations and Zelensky didn’t cite malfeasance in his announcement, a number of high-profile allegations of graft have plagued the Protection Ministry.
Early this 12 months, the ministry confronted blowback for allegedly buying meals for troopers at inflated costs, and David Arakhamia, the pinnacle of Zelensky’s faction in parliament, publicly introduced — incorrectly on the time — that Reznikov can be eliminated. Then, final month, Ukrainian media prompt the ministry had engaged in a corruption scheme whereas buying jackets for the navy — allegations Reznikov vehemently denied.
However with Ukraine depending on huge quantities of overseas help, Kyiv is keen to point out its Western companions that it now has zero tolerance for corruption. On Saturday, Ukraine’s State Safety Service accused billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky of fraud and cash laundering. Kolomoisky beforehand owned Ukraine’s largest financial savings and mortgage financial institution, PrivatBank, which was nationalized in 2016 to stop its insolvency after $5.5 billion in property went lacking. Kolomoisky additionally served as governor of the nation’s Dnipropetrovsk area and strongly backed Zelensky in his 2019 bid for the presidency.
In an announcement to The Washington Publish, Reznikov insisted that he had labored to root out corruption and that the ministry was functioning with larger oversight and extra aggressive procurement procedures.
“My resignation just isn’t associated to any corruption scandals: the choice was made by the president for different causes,” Reznikov stated, including that he had accomplished the duties assigned to him. “The important thing instructions of reforms have been set, and the method of receiving new weapons in Ukraine has turn out to be secure. Our course for NATO membership is permitted.”
Within the assertion, Reznikov cited advances within the battle in opposition to graft.
“Regardless of the warfare and demanding challenges for Ukraine, we have now managed to do lots to battle corruption within the ministry,” he wrote. “We’ve got reformed procurement procedures by launching two procurement companies — a protection company and a sources company. This may assist us to keep away from pointless hyperlinks within the provide chain and reduce potential corruption dangers.”
“We’ve got additionally diversified meals provides within the Ministry of Protection,” he continued. “After I was appointed minister, there was just one provider. Because of our efforts, now we have now 5. We’ve got created an unbiased public physique — the Anti-Corruption Council beneath the Ministry of Protection, which incorporates well-known volunteers and journalists. We persistently carried out the requirements of pleasant NATO nations and used the expertise of the USA, Nice Britain, and NATO.”
Because of the ministry’s new vigilance, Reznikov stated, “a number of high-ranking officers of the Ministry of Protection have been faraway from their posts and have become topics to investigation.”
Along with combating corruption, Kyiv can be beneath strain to supply leads to its counteroffensive, which Reznikov acknowledged in an interview with The Publish within the spring may not stay as much as Western expectations and will trigger “emotional disappointment.”
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Months into the counterattack, Ukrainian troops are dealing with an immense problem within the nation’s south, the place Russian forces ready advanced defensive positions and mined enormous swaths of territory. There was some progress in current weeks, with Ukrainian forces claiming to take management of the strategic village of Robotyne. However the operation has been sluggish, and Russian forces are concurrently attempting to retake occupied territory they misplaced final 12 months within the northeast.
In his resignation letter Monday, Reznikov claimed success in rearming the Ukrainian navy. When he began within the job, he wrote, companions refused to even present Ukraine with transportable air protection programs referred to as stingers. Within the time since, he stated, an aviation coalition was shaped, and Ukraine obtained “fashionable tanks, antimissile protection/anti-missile gear, antiaircraft missiles, armored automobiles, artillery, MLRS, different sorts of fashionable Western-style weapons.”
“The important thing duties that have been outlined after I was appointed to the place have been accomplished,” he wrote, citing reforms in procurement and digital transformation throughout the ministry.
Arakhamia, the pinnacle of Zelensky’s parliamentary group, informed The Publish on Monday that the incoming minister, Umerov, “has loads of belief from worldwide establishments” and that it’s time for a brand new part within the ministry.
Daria Kaleniuk, govt director of the Anti-Corruption Motion Heart, a Ukrainian NGO, stated in a Fb publish that Umerov, has a “strong strategic imaginative and prescient” and is a “proficient negotiator.”
Umerov and his household are Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim minority group from the peninsula Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014. Whereas serving in parliament, he co-chaired an initiative targeted on retaking Crimea from Russian management. He was additionally concerned in key negotiations associated to releasing Ukrainian prisoners of warfare, stated a authorities official who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate the topic.
“The actual fact a Crimean Tatar was appointed because the minister of protection is a robust message to the world as Ukraine plans to finish the warfare,” Kaleniuk wrote.
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In a message, she added that Reznikov had been “delaying any decision-making” relating to reforms within the ministry and “sadly didn’t resign” after the food-procurement scandal. His dismissal was a “matter of time” after the most recent corruption allegations, she stated.
“The resignation of Reznikov is an efficient signal,” she stated. “It’s an indication that public strain in Ukraine works regardless of the large-scale invasion.”
Tamila Tasheva, the president’s consultant to Crimea, who’s presently in Kyiv, stated Umerov has labored on releasing prisoners of warfare and has been a key determine in Ukraine’s relations with the Gulf and Turkey.
The choice to nominate a Crimean Tatar to the position “is a vital sign for Ukrainian society and all our residents in Crimea that Ukraine will battle for Crimea till it’s free of Russian occupation,” she stated. “A Crimean, a consultant of the indigenous Crimean Tatar folks because the minister of protection of Ukraine is in itself a sworn statement of the priorities of state coverage relating to Crimea.”
There’s some hypothesis that Reznikov — who speaks English and has solid robust relationships with Ukraine’s companions — could turn out to be Ukraine’s ambassador to London.
The place was vacated in July when Zelensky dismissed Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko. His firing got here quickly after he described a comment by Zelensky about expressing gratitude for British navy help as “unhealthy” sarcasm.
A spokesman for the International Ministry declined to remark Monday on any potential appointments.
In his assertion to The Publish, Reznikov thanked Ukraine’s worldwide supporters.
“I’m proud that I used to be in a position to serve Ukraine within the darkest hours for our state,” he wrote, “and I really feel gratitude for the folks and governments of our allied nations for the large and invaluable help they supply to Ukraine.”
Morgunov reported from Warsaw.
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