Zelenskyy replaces Ukraine’s defense minister amid corruption probe

Geoff Bennett:

In the middle of war, a shakeup at Ukraine's highest levels of government.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov submitted his resignation letter today after President Zelenskyy yesterday announced plans to replace him. His successor is Rustem Umerov, a lawmaker whose family is from Crimea, the region that Russia illegally annexed back in 2014.

The move comes in the midst of President Zelenskyy's efforts to fight corruption in his government and inside the military.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through interpreter):

I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society at large. Now Rustem Umerov should lead the ministry.

Geoff Bennett:

For more on this, we turn to Kateryna Ryzhenko. She focuses on anti-corruption and is deputy executive director of the Ukrainian branch at Transparency International, a global network aiming to fight corruption.

Thank you for being with us.

So, Reznikov's removal comes in the wake of a number of corruption scandals involving Ukraine's Ministry of Defense. Earlier this year, the ministry faced blowback for allegedly purchasing food for soldiers at inflated prices.

What more can you tell us about the Ministry of Defense, how it's been mismanaged and how its overpaid for basic supplies?

Kateryna Ryzhenko, Transparency International Ukraine:

The scandal that you basically mentioned just now about the food, this is one of the scandals.

The more recent one is about the clothing for the soldier, more specifically, the winter jackets. And I think this was one of those last drops in order to kind of push for the dismissal of the current defense minister.

This is not a one-day event. It's been leading to this. And the current minister did not — haven't mentioned any nice enough arguments to convince the president and other state officials and the citizens that he actually managed the ministry well enough.

His dismissal and his resignation is basically very much expected. And even though he achieved a number of success stories during his time at the ministry chair, obviously, the scandals were just a little bit too much.

Geoff Bennett:

How much of this change in leadership at the Defense Ministry has to do with President Zelenskyy's desire to join the European Union and, as a part of that, eliminate corruption within the ranks?

Kateryna Ryzhenko:

That's a very good question, because I think that joining the European Union has been the biggest topic and on the highest priority list for Ukrainians.

And these type of scandals, especially corruption-related, they do not help the agenda and the efforts of Ukraine to move towards European values. So, the President Zelenskyy reaction to the scandals, dismissal of Reznikov and possibly appointing Umerov, I think attempt to address the concerns that everyone around him has as to the corruption-related scandals in the Ministry of Defense.

Geoff Bennett:

So tell us more about the defense minister who is set to take over, Rustem Umerov.

He's a Crimean lawmaker. He's been closely involved in prisoner of war exchanges. He was part of the team that negotiated the Black Sea grain deal. What skills, what background does he bring to the role?

Kateryna Ryzhenko:

So, he, for the last year, was the head of state property fund, which is a pretty important and big institution in Ukraine.

Before, the state property fund was also the member of the Parliament, but not of the ruling party. And he was quite successful in his position during this — the last year as the head of state property fund. He managed to revive the privatization function. He started selling the Russian-related asset that was confiscated by the state.

So, basically, there is this cautious optimism as to his nomination on the Ministry of Defense position. But, obviously, the role of the Ministry of Defense — minister of defense is definitely more important and consists of a more functions than he was fulfilling at any position before today.

So, it — only time will show us, especially after the situation with all this corruption scandal and the resignation of Reznikov from his current post.

Geoff Bennett:

So, what's this all mean for the war?

Kateryna Ryzhenko:

Even though all the currents scandals do not relate specifically to the arm — to the arms, you need soldiers, you need the army to actually handle those arms.

You need them to be well-fed. You need to be with — them well-equipped. And that is what the current scandal, the current unhappiness with the ministry, Reznikov, is related to, so if the Ministry of Defense will work properly as a clock and there will be proper procurement systems in place that will help to spend the money that, for example, international partners and United States of America provide us to use in an effective manner, and to get the progress on the front lines as soon as possible.

Geoff Bennett:

Kateryna Ryzhenko is the deputy executive director of the Ukrainian branch at Transparency International.

Thank you for being with us.

Kateryna Ryzhenko:

Thank you for the opportunity.