KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed officials responsible for military conscription in each region of the country, citing corruption allegations that he said could amount to treason.
“We are dismissing all regional military commissars,” Zelensky said in a post on social media, following a meeting with senior military leadership.
“This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery at a time of war is high treason,” he added.
Kyiv has been conscripting Ukrainians for assault battalions for its counteroffensive against Russian forces to recapture territory controlled by Moscow’s troops.
The move reflects Ukraine’s efforts to clamp down on graft and corruption as part of sweeping reforms requested by Western institutions like the European Union, which Ukraine hopes to join.
“During the inspection of the territorial recruitment centres, law enforcement agencies exposed cases of corruption,” the presidency said in a separate statement.
It said Ukraine’s general mobilisation was a key area in which inspectors had uncovered instances of foul play.
These “pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security and undermine confidence in state institutions,” the statement said.
It added that Ukraine’s security council recommended that the head of the army select replacements who have battlefield experience and were vetted by Ukraine’s intelligence services.
Russia air defence forces shot down two Ukrainian missiles over a bridge connecting Moscow-annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland, an official said on Saturday.
“Air defence forces shot down two enemy missiles over the Kerch Strait. The Crimean bridge was not damaged,” Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of the Crimean peninsula, said on social media.
He urged locals to remain calm.
Pictures on social media showed columns of smoke rising in the vicinity of the bridge.
Earlier Saturday Russia said that its forces shot down 20 unmanned Ukrainian drones near the Crimean peninsula where Kyiv has stepped up attacks.
Fourteen drones were downed by air defence systems and six more through electronic warfare, the defence ministry said.
