Rampant Corruption May Prompt Ukrainian Defense Minister's Ousting - Ex-MP

With Kiev’s overhyped “counteroffensive” failing to produce any meaningful gains so far and with Ukraine’s military leadership becoming synonymous with corruption, speculation abounds in Ukrainian political circles about the prospects of Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.

While it remains to be seen whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have Reznikov resign, it is also unclear with whom the latter can be replaced as Ukraine ended up losing many of its experienced military officers in the ongoing conflict.

Despite the fact that the Ukrainian army’s failures on the battlefield dealt a heavy blow to Kiev’s reputation with its Western backers, the real reason that may bring Reznikov’s downfall is rampant corruption in the Ukrainian military, says Volodymyr Oleynyk, a Ukrainian politician and former MP of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament).

During an interview with Sputnik, Oleynyk pointed out that vast quantities of money and resources pass through the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense during the current conflict, thus making it an extremely “yummy” place of which many unscrupulous individuals would love to have a taste.

He recalled how the Ukrainian Defense Ministry was caught purchasing food and fuel for obviously inflated prices: for example, the ministry paid about 80 hryvnias (around $2.17) for a liter of diesel and some 17 hryvnias (around $0.46) for a single egg, Oleynyk said, citing Ukrainian sources.

The significant size of this “markup,” Oleynyk argued, suggests that corrupt officials in Ukraine also have to “share” with their US handlers.

“Their handlers see that thievery takes place and think, ‘what, are we worse than Hunter Biden’? They are in on it,” he said.

Oleynyk further suggested that Reznikov may have started to take a bigger share for himself than he was supposed to.

At the same time, he argued that Reznikov is unlikely to take the fall for the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, since the matters of warfare in the country are the province of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces i.e. Valery Zaluzhny, while the minister of defense is a purely political figure.

Oleynyk appeared unamused by the reports about Western powers wanting to have Reznikov replaced by a woman, with the ex-MP stating that the Ukrainian people, not the West, should have a final say in this matter.

Recalling how Joe Biden, during his tenure as VP of the United States, forced then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to oust Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, Oleynyk said that Shokin’s replacement Yuri Lutsenko was actually unable to even understand judicial lingo.

Such people, who are essentially incompetent in the field of expertise they are supposed to be working in, are easy to manipulate, Oleynik said while musing about the prospects of Reznikov’s replacement.