Six Ukrainian deputy defence ministers were dismissed on Monday, September 18, a clean sweep that comes just two weeks after a new minister has taken the reins. The fight against corruption is not the only cause of this upheaval in one of Ukraine’s most strategic ministries. FRANCE 24 takes a closer look at the factors behind the overhaul.
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All six of Ukraine’s deputy defence ministers were dismissed on Monday, September 18, by new Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, according to a message posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian government’s secretary general, Oleh Nemchinov. Even Hanna Maliar, the high-profile deputy minister who had held her position since 2021, did not escape the purge.
No official reason was given for this decision, but “a complete overhaul is underway”, reported media outlet Oukraïnska Pravda, citing an anonymous government source.
Cleaning out the stables
The reports suggest that the dismissals are part of Roustem Umerov’s effort to clean out the stables following the departure of Oleksiy Reznikov, his predecessor who is now mired in a series of corruption scandals.
Ukraine’s defence ministry has long had a reputation as a hotbed of corruption, and Oleksiy Reznikov was primarily accused of not having done enough to put an end to the problem. Roustem Umerov, a loyal follower of President Volodymyr Zelensky who was appointed to the post at the beginning of September, is likely trying to make a name for himself and mark a new departure.
Ryhor Nizhnikau, a specialist in Ukrainian politics at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, is not entirely convinced by this justification for the purge: “This is not about anti-corruption. Some of them came in recently with good reputations and were given tasks that had to do with fighting corruption.”
Others, like Hanna Maliar, have never been…
