Oleksi Reznikov, whose department has been plagued by inflating prices in the purchase of military rations, makes his position available to the president
The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksi Reznikov, has made his position available to the president, Volodimir Zelensky, given the information circulating about his possible dismissal after the scandal unleashed in his department over the purchase of military food rations at inflated prices. Reznikov explained that “nobody is in office forever” and assured journalists that he has not been informed of a possible dismissal, although he stressed that “I will do what the head of state suggests.”
However, the Executive’s foresight does not seem to contemplate leaving him out of the circle of power. Reznikov will occupy the portfolio of Strategic Industries in order to strengthen cooperation between the military sphere and that of the company, as pointed out by the deputy of the Servant of the People party, David Arajamia, who considers this step “absolutely logical”. Other media claim that Reznikov will assume the Ministry of Justice, whose head is very likely to be assigned to a European embassy to carry out diplomatic work at a crucial time when kyiv seeks to join the EU “this very 2023”; a goal that has very few chances of success. In either of the two cases, the replacement would rather be a laundering of the Defense Department’s image and would show that the person still in charge continues to have the president’s confidence.
A change of this magnitude will undoubtedly have repercussions in the middle of the war and just when “brutal combats” take place in Bakhmut and its environment. kyiv acknowledged this Sunday that the Ukrainian opposition is getting “complicated” in the face of the Russian advance. In addition, Zelensky would thus lose the second chief in command of the war strategy since the start of the war after the crash of the helicopter that recently claimed the life of the Minister of the Interior and his team. However, the president knows that his Administration is still far from appearing before the European Commission with the standards of cleanliness that it demands, despite the good words about his accession to the EU.
In the week prior to the celebration, this past Thursday and Friday, of the European summit in kyiv, Zelenski embarked on a purge that has led to the dismissal of his own presidential adviser, a dozen deputy ministers and governors and other officials, such as the customs chiefs. All of them are linked to cases of fraud such as the acquisition of food for the soldiers at the front at prices higher than those set or the purchase, also at exorbitant costs, of generators intended to make up for the lack of electricity supply due to the bombings. russians. The United States has been quick to deny that the corruption scheme benefited from its Ukraine aid funds.
long range weapons
The news of the dismissal of the defense minister has come from military circles, which have informed the newspapers ‘Ukrainska Pravda’ and ‘Kyiv Independent’. According to these media, Zelensky will shortly be replaced by the head of the Military Intelligence agency, Kirilo Budanov.
Reznikov casually gave a press conference this morning about the new weapons sent by the West. The minister, who assured that he will continue working to achieve victory against Russia, expressed his concern about the possibility that the Kremlin unleashes a major offensive at the end of this month. He guaranteed, on the other hand, that Ukraine will not use the new rockets promised by the United States and some European NATO allies, with a longer range than those supplied so far, to target inside Russia. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has agreed that there is a “consensus” with Zelenski not to attack Russian territory.
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