Ukrainian soldiers unloading munitions from the back of a truck near Bakhmut. Irregularities in procurement of weapons have been a persistent challenge for Ukraine. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
THE removal of Ukraine’s defence minister after a flurry of reports of graft and financial mismanagement in his department underscores a pivotal challenge for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wartime leadership: stamping out the corruption that had been widespread in Ukraine for years.
Official corruption was a topic that had been mostly taboo throughout the first year of the war, as Ukrainians rallied around their government in a fight for national survival. But Zelenskyy’s announcement on Sept 3 that he was replacing the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, elevated the issue to the highest level of Ukrainian politics.
