Zelensky sacks top Ukraine army officials following corruption allegations - BBC News

 

now let's turn to Ukraine where

president zelenski has sacked all of the

heads of military enlistment in each

region right across the country it

follows corruption allegations Kiev has

been conscripting ukrainians for its

counter-offensive to recapture territory

control by moscow's troops let's take a

listen to his announcement a little

earlier

we're dismissing all regional military

commissars this system should be run by

people who know exactly what war is why

cynicism and bribery at a time of war is

high treason instead soldiers who have

been through the front or who cannot be

in the trenches because they have lost

their health lost their limbs but have

retained their dignity and have no

cynicism they can be entrusted with this

recruitment system

well let's go straight to key even our

correspondent James Ward house James

that's quite a dramatic move from the

president tell us a little more of the

background to this

yeah it's quite a clamp down Matthew 33

recruitment heads in every region of

Ukraine are now out of a job essentially

in this announcement that few expected a

couple of weeks ago the really

recruitment head in the southern region

of Odessa was even arrested now there is

a there is a bit of History here there's

a bit of a tension between these

recruitment centers uh within the

military itself because the issue of

mobilization where Ukraine is calling up

and continues to cool up thousands of

men at a time for its continued War

efforts it's a sensitive subject and

there have been issues around how that

is done now if you go on what the

recruiters say what the land forces say

they're responsible for it they say the

system needs more money it needs

modernizing and that they're often they

get a bad rep for doing the work of the

military and and it seems that it's

politically unpopular in the past for it

to be to receive any kind of funding and

then we have this announcement from

president zielinski against the backdrop

of pressure from Western allies to deal

with uh corruption in Ukraine something

the country has has always grappled with

but then there are also allegations from

the men themselves who find themselves

receiving draft papers there are claims

certainly in Odessa where so we say

heavier heavy-handed tactics have been

used where where there are allegations

of men finding themselves on the front

line with very little training now of

course there are sizable proportions of

the population who are motivated to

volunteer and fight but such is the

nature of this war there is a continued

demand for troops to not just replace

those who have been lost who've been

killed but also to provide relief for

those who've been fighting on the front

line in some pretty unimaginable

conditions for several months now so

this is quite the announcement and it

will have far-reaching consequences and

James meanwhile there have been further

Russian missile strikes to the west of

the country tell me a little more about

that

yeah so leafy Ivano Francesca this

region in Western Ukraine when you head

that way the war for a while feels far

away it's somewhere that typically isn't

targeted but overnight this morning uh

ballistic missiles were launched by

Russian fighter jets uh one was shot

down but one of those missiles landed in

Ivano Francesca where a military base

we're told where Ukrainian Fighters were

being trained on Western F-16 Jets

was targeted uh a house we're told was

hit where an eight-year-old boy was

killed so this is somewhere which

typically uh feels far away from the

conflict but it's a reminder how most of

Ukraine is under threat the Southeastern

city of zaponesia even by the standards

of this war has had a miserable 72 hours

where missiles have been hitting

civilian buildings Russia's claim to be

claimed to be targeting uh military

targets as it does but it there really

has been an increase where Ukraine's air

defenses have been tested

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