Ukraine shakes up wartime leadership amid corruption allegations
Meanwhile, Poland formally requests permission from Berlin to send German-made tanks to Ukraine
Ukraine dismissed more than adozen senior officials including governors of several majorbattlefield provinces on Tuesday in the biggest shakeup of itswartime leadership since Russia's invasion last year.
Separately on Tuesday, a long-awaited decision on whetherallies could send German-made heavy tanks to Ukraine finallyconfronted Berlin, after Poland said it had formally sent itsrequest to the German government.
U.S. officials said Washington was also moving towardsupplying some of its tanks to Kyiv.
Among Ukrainian officials who resigned or were dismissed onTuesday were the governors of the Kyiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk,Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Kherson, Zaporizhzhia andadjacent Dnipropetrovsk are front-line provinces now, whileKyiv andSumy were major battlefields earlier in the war.
A deputy defence minister, a deputy prosecutor, a deputyhead of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office and two deputyministers responsible for regional development were among theothers who left.
Corruption allegations
Some, though not all, had been linked with corruptionallegations. Ukraine has a history of graft and shakygovernance, and is under international pressure to show it canbe a reliable steward of billions of dollars in Western aid.
"There are already personnel decisions some today, sometomorrow regarding officials at various levels in ministriesand other central government structures, as well as in theregions and in law enforcement," Zelenskyysaid in an overnightvideo address.
Zelenskyy aide Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted: "The presidentsees and hears society. And he directly responds to a key publicdemand:justice for all."
The purge came two days after a deputy infrastructureminister was arrested and accused of siphoning off $400,000 US fromcontracts to buy generators one of the first big corruptionscandals to become public since the war began 11 months ago.
The Defence Ministry said Deputy Defence Minister VyacheslavShapovalov, responsible for supplying troops, had resigned toretain trust after what it called untrue media accusations ofcorruption. It followed a newspaper report that the ministryoverpaid for food for troops, which the ministry denied.
The prosecutor's office gave no reason for the sacking ofDeputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko, who had been underfire in Ukrainian media for taking a holiday in Spain. ThoughZelenskyydid not name any officials in his address, heannounced a new ban on officials holidaying abroad.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff in Zelenskyy'soffice, announced his own resignation, also citing no reason. Hehad helped run the president's 2019 election campaign and morerecently had a role in overseeing regional policy.
As the shakeup unfolded in a series of announcements,Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a cabinet meeting that Ukrainewas making progress in its anti-corruption campaign.
"It issystemic, consecutive work, which is very needed for Ukraine andis an integral part of integration with the EU," he said.
On the capital's streets, Serhii Bochkarev, a 28-year-old translator, welcomed the moves.
"Corruption during war is totally unacceptable because people are giving their lives to fight Russians and to defend the motherland," he said.
Decision time on tanks
Poland's announcement that it had officially asked forBerlin's permission to export German-made tanks to Ukraineappears to leave German Chancellor Olaf Scholz little room tocontinue putting off a decision in the main debate among alliesover how best to support Ukraine.
"I hope that this answer from Germany will come quickly,because the Germans are delaying, dodging, acting in a way thatis difficult to understand," Polish Prime Minister MateuszMorawiecki told a news conference. "We can see that they do notwant to help Ukraine defend itself in a wider way."
A German government spokesperson said: "We will treat theproceedings with the urgency they deserve."
Two U.S. officials, meanwhile, told Reuters the UnitedStates appeared to be dropping its opposition to sending some ofits M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. While the Abrams is consideredless suitable than the Leopard for Ukraine due to its heavy fuelconsumption, the move could encourage Germany to follow suit.
Kyiv has pleaded for months for Western tanks, which itssays it desperately needs to give its forces the firepower and mobility to break through Russian defensive lines and recaptureoccupied territory in the east and south.
Scholz's Social Democrats have held back, wary of moves thatcould spur Russia to escalate the war, and what they see as arisk of the NATO alliance being drawn into the conflict.
Germany's Leopards, fielded by armies across Europe, arewidely seen as the best option, available in large numbers andeasy to deploy and maintain. But Germany has so far resistedpressure to pledge any of its own Leopards, and until now hadsaid its allies had yet to formally request permission to sendtheirs.
"The Germans have already received our request forpermission to transfer Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine," PolishDefence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.
"I also appeal to the German side to join the coalition ofcountries supporting Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks. This is our common cause, because the security of the whole of Europe is atstake!"
The chief of staff of Germany's military said that whetherto send tanks was a political decision. A senior official saidthe choice lay ultimately with Scholz and his cabinet.
"At the end of the day, the decision will obviously be takenat the chancellery, in consensus by the government," Tobias Lindner, state secretary at the foreign ministry, said at adefence conference in Berlin organized by Handelsblatt.
Front lines in the war have been largely frozen in place fortwo months despite heavy losses on both sides. Russia and Ukraine are both widely believed to be planning offensives. AUkrainian official said the upcoming spring and summer would bedecisive.
With files from The Associated Press
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