After the report, Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation and its Security Service detained scores of draft board staff suspected of bribery and corruption.
Volunteers practise during military training for civilians close to Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday.Credit: AP
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The move comes at a particularly sensitive moment for Kyiv with its long-touted counter-offensive hampered by extensive Russian defences across swathes of the southeast.
Zelensky said that any sacked army recruitment officers who are not being investigated should head to the front to fight for Ukraine “if they want to keep their epaulettes and prove their dignity”.
“But let me emphasise: the army is not and never will be a substitute for criminal punishment. Officials who confused epaulettes with perks will definitely face trial,” he said in his statement.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed or wounded in fighting since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Videos purporting to depict army recruiters aggressively pursuing or becoming violent with would-be draftees have gone viral on social media in the country, which has been under martial law since the invasion.
Zelensky said top general Valery Zaluzhny would be responsible for implementing the decision and that new candidates for the posts would first be vetted by Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU.
Despite recent, Ukraine still ranks 116th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index.
A Transparency-commissioned opinion poll in June found that 77 per cent of Ukrainians believe corruption is among Ukraine’s most serious problems.
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Zelensky was elected in 2019 on a campaign pledge to stomp out corruption.
On the battlefront, Russia fired missiles at western Ukraine that killed an eight-year-old boy overnight, officials said, and drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted Moscow for a third straight day but reportedly didn’t cause significant damage.
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