Zelensky Fires All Heads of Ukraine's Military Call-Up Centers

Ukrainian President Zelensky has dismissed all heads of Ukraine's regional military committees amid a sprawling probe into corruption related to armed forces recruitment.

The president posted a video and text statement regarding the mass removal of local military officials on his official Telegram channel on Friday. The announcement comes amid a national investigation into military commissariats that has already produced 112 criminal cases against local commissars.

"This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason," Zelensky said, shortly after holding a special meeting of the National Security and Defense Council.

"Instead, soldiers who have passed [through] the front or who cannot be in the trenches because they have lost their health, lost their limbs, but have preserved their dignity and do not have cynicism, are the ones who can be entrusted" with overseeing the system, he added.

Zelensky said the decision will be implemented by commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhnyi. Before new heads of the regional recruitment centers are appointed, there will be inspections by the Security Service of Ukraine, Zelensky added.

Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

Friday's announcement is the latest setback for the Ukrainian military, which has been grappling with allegations of widespread corruption while it seeks to neuter Russian military capabilities and liberate the 20 percent of the country still occupied by Moscow's forces.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov reportedly came close to being dismissed from his post late last year over purchases of military rations at inflated prices. Reznikov—who survived the scandal but is still expected to leave his post soon—was not personally responsible for the $350 million catering contract in question, but framed the subsequent criticism as an effort to smear the Defense Ministry.

The latest scandal relates to the conduct of military commissars, 135 of which have been put under surveillance by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention. There is a total of 1,795 military commissars in Ukraine, who oversee the drafting of conscripts to serve in the armed forces.

Under martial law, which was imposed in Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, men aged 18 to 60 may be mobilized and have no right to leave the country, although there are some exemptions.

Revelations of wrongdoing by local military commissars have infuriated Ukrainians. One case in particular—that of Yevgeny Borisov, the military commissar for Odesa region—has made headlines. Borisov acquired real estate in Spain worth more some $5 million, paid for—according to investigators—with embezzled funds.

But Borisov is not the only official suspected of abuses. "The investigation is revealing numerous abuses," Zelensky said last week after a meeting with Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and the head of the SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk. "And they are frankly revolting."

"The conclusion is clear: the recruitment system needs people who understand the value of protecting Ukraine," the president said. "Recruitment centers must be staffed with people who have seen the war, experienced it," he added. "And those who, sadly, may have lost limbs but not their dignity and not Ukraine. Let me thank them."

Update 8/11/23, 9:20 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information on the corruption scandals centered on the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.