Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Sunday that the country’s chronic problem, sidelined by the war against Russia, corruption would not be tolerated and promised key decisions to eradicate it this week, Reuters reported on Monday.

President Zelenskyi’s pledge came amid allegations of high-level corruption, including allegations of shady practices in military procurement, despite officials promoting national unity to fight the Russian invasion.

“I want one thing to be clear: there will be no return to what was in the past, to the way different people, close to state institutions, or those who ran for seats all their lives lived,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video intervention.

Ukraine has a long history of corruption and unstable governance, in 2021 Transparency International ranked the country 122nd out of 180 for corruption, not much better than Russia.

The EU made anti-corruption reforms one of its key requirements for Ukraine’s accession after Kyiv was granted candidate status last year.

“This week will be the time for appropriate decisions,” the Ukrainian president said. “The decisions have already been prepared. I don’t want to make them public at the moment, but everything will be right.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that his government accepted the resignation of the deputy minister after an investigation into allegations of bribery. He did not name the official, but the mass media reported that Vasyl Lozinskyi, the temporary deputy minister of infrastructure, was detained on charges of receiving a bribe.

Recent attention to corruption has also caught the attention of Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov after a newspaper reported that the army would be purchasing food at grossly inflated prices. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine called the accusations false, and the parliamentary committee was asked to look into the situation.

(source: Agerpres)