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Reznikov’s removing 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.
“I consider the ministry wants new approaches and different codecs of interplay with each the army and society as a complete,” Zelensky mentioned.
In an announcement to The Washington Put up, 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 shouldn’t be associated to any corruption scandals: the choice was made by the president for different causes,” Reznikov mentioned, 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 grow to be secure. Our course for NATO membership is accepted.”
Early this yr, 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. Final month, Ukrainian media instructed the ministry had engaged in a corruption scheme whereas buying jackets for the army — allegations Reznikov vehemently denied.
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 his assertion, Reznikov cited advances within the battle in opposition to graft.
“Regardless of the warfare and demanding challenges for Ukraine, we’ve got managed to do quite a bit to battle corruption within the ministry,” he wrote. “We have now reformed procurement procedures by launching two procurement businesses — a protection company and a sources company. This may assist us to keep away from pointless hyperlinks within the provide chain and decrease attainable corruption dangers.”
“We have now 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’ve got 5. We have now created an impartial public physique — the Anti-Corruption Council beneath the Ministry of Protection, which incorporates well-known volunteers and journalists. We persistently applied the requirements of pleasant NATO international locations and used the expertise of the USA, Nice Britain, and NATO.”
Because of the ministry’s new vigilance, Reznikov mentioned, “a number of high-ranking officers of the Ministry of Protection have been faraway from their posts and have become topics to investigation.”
The U.S. Nationwide Safety Council declined to touch upon the shake-up.
Along with combating corruption, Kyiv can be beneath stress to provide leads to its counteroffensive, which Reznikov acknowledged in an interview with The Put up within the spring may not dwell as much as Western expectations and will trigger “emotional disappointment.”
Months into the counterattack, Ukrainian troops are going through an immense problem within the nation’s south, the place Russian forces ready complicated defensive positions and mined enormous swaths of territory. There was some progress in latest weeks, with Ukrainian forces claiming to take management of the strategic village of Robotyne. However the operation has been gradual, and Russian forces are concurrently attempting to retake occupied territory they misplaced final yr within the northeast.
In his resignation letter Monday, Reznikov claimed success in rearming the Ukrainian army. When he began within the job, he wrote, companions refused to even present Ukraine with moveable air protection methods often known as stingers. Within the time since, he mentioned, an aviation coalition was shaped, and Ukraine obtained “trendy tanks, antimissile protection/anti-missile tools, antiaircraft missiles, armored automobiles, artillery, MLRS, different kinds of trendy Western-style weapons.”
“The important thing duties that have been outlined once I was appointed to the place have been accomplished,” he wrote, citing reforms in procurement and digital transformation inside the ministry.
Arakhamia, the pinnacle of Zelensky’s parliamentary group, advised The Put up on Monday that the incoming minister, Umerov, “has a whole lot of belief from worldwide establishments” and that it’s time for a brand new part within the ministry.
Daria Kaleniuk, government director of the Anti-Corruption Motion Heart, a Ukrainian NGO, mentioned in a Fb put up that Umerov, has a “strong strategic imaginative and prescient” and is a “gifted 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, mentioned 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.
In a message, she added that Reznikov had been “delaying any decision-making” concerning reforms within the ministry and “sadly didn’t resign” after the food-procurement scandal. His dismissal was a “matter of time” after the newest corruption allegations, she mentioned.
“The resignation of Reznikov is an efficient signal,” she mentioned. “It’s an indication that public stress in Ukraine works regardless of the large-scale invasion.”
Tamila Tasheva, the president’s consultant to Crimea, who’s presently in Kyiv, mentioned 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 function “is a crucial sign for Ukrainian society and all our residents in Crimea that Ukraine will battle for Crimea till it’s free of Russian occupation,” she mentioned. “A Crimean, a consultant of the indigenous Crimean Tatar individuals because the minister of protection of Ukraine is in itself a sworn statement of the priorities of state coverage concerning Crimea.”
There’s some hypothesis that Reznikov — who speaks English and has cast sturdy relationships with Ukraine’s companions — could grow 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 army help as “unhealthy” sarcasm.
A International Ministry spokesman declined to remark Monday on any potential appointments.
In his assertion to The Put up, Reznikov thanked Ukraine’s worldwide supporters.
“I’m proud that I used to be capable of serve Ukraine within the darkest hours for our state,” he wrote, “and I really feel gratitude for the individuals and governments of our allied international locations for the large and invaluable help they supply to Ukraine.”
Morgunov reported from Warsaw.
