Five regional governors, four deputy ministers dismissed in Ukraine
Five regional governors and four deputy ministers are stepping down in Ukraine against the backdrop of several corruption scandals, a senior official said Tuesday, reports AFP.
They include the heads of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the northeastern Sumy region, the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, as well as the region surrounding the capital Kyiv, according to Oleg Nemchinov, a senior government official. Presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said President Volodymyr Zelensky had focused on "key priorities of the state" in dismissing the officials, who include governors of regions that have seen heavy fighting and deputy cabinet ministers.
"During the war, everyone should understand their responsibility," Podolyak tweeted. "The president sees and hears society."
The shakeup came after a Ukrainian deputy minister of development of communities and territories, Vasyl Lozynskiy, was sacked at the weekend following his arrest on suspicion of embezzlement. Photographs released by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau showed stashes of cash seized at Lozynskiy's office.
The 36-year-old was accused of receiving a $400,000 bribe to "facilitate" the purchase of generators at inflated prices as Ukraine struggles with electricity shortages following Russian strikes on the energy grid.
