Ukraine sacks army recruitment chiefs in anti-graft shakeup
www.reuters.com
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy broadened his battle against graft on Friday, firing all the heads of Ukraine's regional army recruitment centres as the war with Russia enters a critical stage.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1338851

Archived version: https://archive.ph/yDjTx
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230811193345/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-fire-all-regional-military-recruitment-chiefs-zelenskiy-2023-08-11/

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    That's not a good sign for Ukraine in what is an attrition war. Even their own military is making plans to smuggle their men out if the country because they don't want to send them to the death trap that is the heavily reinforced WW1 like frontlines. And Zelensky's response is just to fire and try replace the people doing that, instead of looking as to why that is happening. If the counter offensive tactics are so dire that your own military is doing corruption to avoid sending men to the front, maybe that needs reassessment.

    Zelenskiy said a state investigation into centres across Ukraine had exposed abuses by officials ranging from illegal enrichment to transporting draft-eligible men across the border despite a wartime ban on them leaving the country.

    • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.social
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don't think you're necessarily wrong, and I'm certainly no expert. However, I do know that Ukraine has long struggled with corruption, and has been making slow progress over the past couple of decades. And they will always have (there are always, in any conflict) a certain level of partisanship in their own ranks.

      I've been mildly concerned about what could happen after the invasion; assuming Ukraine is successful, Zelenskyy's popularity could make it easy for him to transition into a dictatorship. However, so far I've seen little to indicate that he's anything other than a sincere, effective, and passionate leader -- I like the guy, and I'm inclined to trust his judgement. He's done unexpectedly well so far, and Ukraine under his leadership has been acting up to the highest ethical ideals of the EU.

      Maybe Ukraine leadership is making a mistake, but maybe they know something us armchair Generals don't.

      • SoyViking [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Ukraine under his leadership has been acting up to the highest ethical ideals of the EU.

        I agree with this sentence but I think we have very different ideas of what the "ethical ideals of the EU" are.

          • DankXiaobong [comrade/them]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Article 2 - Right to life

            1. Everyone has the right to life

            Except those Russian orcs

            1. No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed.

            Sending conscripts to into the front lines instead of seeking a diplomatic solution is quite literally a death penalty

      • Sasuke [comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        if you ukraine were to win the war (and they won't) whatever remains of their economy is going to be crippled by its accumulating debts. a lot of the 'aid' they've received—from the 'highly ethical' EU among others—consists of loans that are to be paid back in full and with interest.

        and we already know what the cost of these foreign ''aid'' packages are; privatization (already well under way—ukraine even has their own website); austerity; lower wages; poorer working condition; a crackdown on labor rights and organizing (like banning left-wing parties in your country, which zelensky has already done), etc.

        • NoGodsNoMasters [they/them, she/her]
          ·
          1 year ago

          their economy is going to be crippled by its accumulating debts.

          But Zelenskyy told me that Ukraine was going to reach a 1 trillion GDP in 10 years by deregulating, selling off public assets, and reforming social programmes. Are you really suggesting he would lie like that?

          • Bnova [he/him]
            ·
            1 year ago

            GDP is just a measurement of money exchanging hands, so I don't doubt that Zelensky, a man in the Pandora papers for money laundering could figure out a way to get their GDP to a trillion.

      • macabrett
        ·
        1 year ago

        Ukraine under his leadership has been acting up to the highest ethical ideals of the EU.

        Doesn't seem very ethical to me to ban your opposition parties for being left wing.

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        1 year ago

        has been making slow progress over the past couple of decades

        Zelensky was literally in the Pandora Papers lmao

          • Awoo [she/her]
            ·
            1 year ago

            No?

            https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/10/4/chinese-politician-in-pandora-papers-looked-to-trade-us-stocks

            China’s only politician to be named in a sprawling investigation of millions of confidential financial documents known as the Pandora Papers is a female entrepreneur who the report says set up an offshore firm to trade U.S. stocks.

            • spectre [he/him]
              ·
              1 year ago

              It's overly amplified by liberal propagandists, but there's at least enough of a connection to make a note of

              https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35962326

              • GaveUp [she/her]
                ·
                1 year ago

                "Relatives" is a very purposely vague term to use

                I have so many relatives that I've never met or only met less than 3 times

                If the connections were close relatives even to first degree cousins, they would've said so

                • renownedballoonthief@lemmygrad.ml
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  For a parallel the libs can understand: all other allegations aside, it's extremely clear that Hunter Biden wouldn't have been on the board of a Ukrainian gas company in the first place if his last name wasn't Biden.

      • spectre [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        You don't see his pandering to the EU as stumbling backwards into this whole situation in the first place?

        I understand that it comes across as provocative, but from what I understand about his (attempted) maneuvering over the past couple years, he's kind of a spineless and weak leader who trusted the wrong side and got his country embroiled in a massive conflict.

        NATO and the US are not trustworthy allies, and they let him talk up "Ukraine joining NATO ", a very dangerous thing to do, but I don't believe they had any intention of letting them in at any point. Zelensky should have understood this.

      • FakeNewsForDogs [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Ukraine is fucked. As others have pointed out, western vultures are already carving it up via mass privatization (though they may be disappointed with what’s left when the war is over). The “counteroffensive” went nowhere and whether Russia marches all the way to Odessa is really just a question of if they want to at this point. The war was lost before it started and Ukraine will be lucky if it doesn’t get annexed to pieces by Poland et al in the coming months. Best case it keeps some manner of territorial integrity and limps along as a failed state. Not sure Zelensky deserves all the blame for this disaster, as the wheels were in motion at least as early as 2014, but they definitely bet on the wrong horse here.

      • Sinister [none/use name, comrade/them]B
        ·
        1 year ago

        A question, do you truly think the Netherlands or Denmark would honestly let Ukraine join the EU? When they are already moaning about Romania and Bulgaria? Its a pipedream to sell Ukrainians on copium.

        • 7bicycles [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          The people moaning about people from Romania and Bulgaria are neither the ones profiting from their cheap labour here nor are they who calls the shots on the matter

        • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.social
          ·
          1 year ago

          I don't know. The EU has been having a bit of a crisis, with candidates from several member states floating the idea of their own Brexits, financial struggles, and bad faith actors. I would hope that if Ukraine met the conditions for membership, then yes. It had been doing pretty well, financially and rule-of-law -wise; maybe not perfect, but steadily improving.

          I was surprised by Trump, by Brexit, by the political successes of far-right politicians (Rachele Mussolonis) across Europe. I have no idea which way any of these countries will break.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        ·
        1 year ago

        Zelenskyy’s popularity could make it easy for him to transition into a dictatorship

        Yes and no. His poll numbers surged from about 30% to 88% after the invasion but Ukrainians want a EU path and Dictator Zelenzkyy would be in the way of that. He could certainly win another term in a landslide and do a de Gaulle but I kinda doubt he's even interested in that, he certainly wasn't terribly ecstatic about it before the war and with how things are looking martial law is going to continue past the election date, that is, there's going to be no elections. Meaning that at the end of it all there's going to be a Zelenskyy who's first going to take a vacation, and then do another season of servant of the people. Opening scene: Goloborodko wins the elections against the incumbent, a comedian who saved the nation from calamity due to sheer stupid luck (something about an asteroid if I remember my season 1 right). Finally, someone with proper qualifications in office again, a history teacher!