Two new advisory bodies will help increase the efficiency and transparency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Friday, Reuters reports.

The Office of Support for Change and the Civil Anti-Corruption Council were set up earlier this month following allegations that the ministry was buying food for troops at inflated prices.

The ministry has also received heavy weaponry from Western allies as Kyiv prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces after 14 months of war in Ukraine.

“Today is the time for reforms, even during this war,” Reznikov said during an online briefing.

Reznikov said the Office of Change Support was tasked with “thinking outside the box” to propose institutional changes, including procurement of non-lethal resources.

According to him, the Public Anti-Corruption Council consists of people who are publicly elected by thousands of voters. Will monitor potential corruption risks in the ministry.

Ukraine has stepped up its anti-corruption efforts as it seeks to join the European Union.

The state’s anti-corruption agency said last week that a former deputy defense minister and another ministry official had received “suspect notices” of crimes related to inflated prices on food contracts for the military.

Reznikov said in February that hundreds of defense ministry or armed forces officials had been disciplined last year following internal probes, and that he had “no tolerance” for corruption.

Reznikov, 56, has served as defense minister since his appointment on November 4, 2021, leading the ministry during Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

During this time, Reznikov played an important role in the campaign to obtain and secure Western military aid, which proved vital to Ukraine’s resistance to Russia.

At the end of January, a large-scale corruption scandal broke out in the Ministry of Defense, which led to the dismissal of several high-ranking officials.

The Ukrainian publication Zn accused the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, headed by Oleksiy Reznikov, of purchasing food for the army at prices that are two to three times higher than prices in Kyiv grocery stores, The Kyiv Independent writes.

The publication Zn notes that this contract with a total value of UAH 13.16 billion, which is equivalent to EUR 328.4 million, was concluded on December 23 and provides for the supply of food products to the Ukrainian military stationed in the Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions. regions .

The contract does not provide for the delivery of food to the frontline fighters, where “only delivery can make any purchase more expensive,” writes Zn.

Reznikov’s deputy Vyacheslav Shapovalov was fired three days after the information appeared in the press.

In mid-March, President Zelenskyi issued decrees on the dismissal of the heads of state administrations of Luhansk, Odesa, and Khmelnytskyi regions.

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