Fighting on Two Fronts: Zelenskyy Fights Corruption and Russia

Kyiv, Ukraine – This has become the biggest political upheaval in Ukraine during the war – and it doesn’t seem to be over yet.

A number of top officials have resigned or been fired since Sunday after a Ukrainian newspaper reported on a corruption scheme linked to food supplies to the military.

The scandal was followed by a breakthrough in Ukraine’s quest for a military Holy Grail – some of the world’s most advanced tanks from Germany, whose arrival at the front could change the odds of war.

The publication Zn.ua reported last week that food prices quoted in a Defense Ministry contract were up to three times higher than in supermarkets in Kyiv.

“DoD rear-front rats steal more food from armed forces than peacetime,” read the headline.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov criticized the publication, saying prices had been higher because of the logistical ordeal involved in getting goods to the front lines.

He kept his job, but heads have started to roll and the list of fired officers grows longer by the day.

It includes his deputy, a deputy head of the presidential administration, three other deputy ministers, five governors and five prosecutors in their regions, and two heads of government agencies.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, holds up his resignation letter, calling on Zelenskyi to relieve him of his duties on January 24, 2023 [Kyrylo Tymoshenko via Telegram/via Reuters]

According to media reports and anti-corruption authorities, six of them are said to have been involved in corruption.

Media have speculated that three other ministers and even Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal could get pink slips.

“I want it to be clear – things will not be the way they are,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised address on Sunday, as he pledged a zero-tolerance approach to bribery.

Once the looting began, Ukraine made one of its biggest breakthroughs on the battlefield: Germany agreed to supply its advanced Leopard 2 main battle tanks.

After months of denial, resistance and deliberation, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged on Tuesday to provide 14 tanks and allow other European nations that have them to deliver them to Kyiv.

Leopards weigh more than 60 tons, fire 120mm shells and have two 7.62mm machine guns, one of which can hit aircraft.

Germany has sold hundreds of Leopard 2s to more than a dozen European nations, as well as Canada and Indonesia. They have participated in conflicts from Kosovo to Syria.

Both Ukraine and Russia have used Soviet-designed tanks in the current war, which began in February.

Kyiv had for months advocated Leopards and other Western tanks and armored vehicles, arguing they could play a crucial role in the worst armed conflict Europe has seen since World War II.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, reportedly said in December that he would need 300 tanks, 600-700 infantry fighting vehicles and 500 howitzers to push Russian forces back to Ukraine’s pre-war borders.

A possible connection

For an observer with extensive knowledge of both German and Ukrainian politics, there is no coincidence between the shots fired by Ukrainian officials and Germany’s pledge of tanks.

“That explosion [of dismissals] is too sudden and systemic at the same time,” Nikolay Mitrokhin, a historian at the German University of Bremen, told Al Jazeera.

He said German officials may have delivered an ultimatum to their Ukrainian counterparts during talks on Ukraine’s allies on January 20 at Ramstein military base in Germany.

Dozens of nations at the talks pledged to increase their military aid to Ukraine, but Germany said it would hold back the tanks, shocking both Kyiv and Berlin’s allies.

“And after that, the Ukrainian elites fell into a strong and sudden shock provoked by just one [newspaper] history,” Mitrokhin said.

Zelenskyy speaks via video link with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a meeting of Ukraine’s allies at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany [Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/handout via Reuters]

“Now everything is different,” said Mitrokhin. “The main owners of tanks and their manufacturer have reached a serious agreement, and the US, which has refused to supply tanks for really unknown reasons, is reconsidering its decision.”

Also on Tuesday, Washington agreed to supply its M1 Abrams tanks and increase production of heavy artillery shells six-fold for them.

The tanks are slightly superior to the Leopard 2s, but require constant maintenance and typically run on jet fuel, not diesel like other tanks. Their crews also need extensive training.

“And since the Germans like to combine various issues into one big decision, it cannot be ruled out that the package will include eliminating corruption in the military and humanitarian commissions,” Mitrokhin said.

But Ukrainian experts disagree.

“There are two reasons [for the dismissals] — either ineffectiveness or suspected corruption,” Igar Tyshkevych, a Kyiv-based analyst, told Al Jazeera.

The former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the layoffs had nothing to do with the tanks.

Once found guilty, the corrupt officials “should expect a much harsher punishment. There should be a quick investigation,” Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko told Al Jazeera.

The layoffs were “caused by the need to increase administrative effectiveness and eliminate ‘corruption hotspots’ during the war,” said Al-Jazeera’s Aleksey Kushch, a Kyiv-based analyst.

“Especially as there is a demand for it both within the [Ukrainian] public and by Western partners,” he said.

Smoke rises after shelling in Odessa, Ukraine [File: Petros Giannakouris/AP]

Some Ukrainian soldiers have cautiously warned that food sent by Western allies has occasionally been stolen and ended up in civilian camps.

“You receive a new shipment of humanitarian aid and two days later you see the same cans with the same logos in a nearby supermarket,” a soldier told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

But the ongoing scandal is far from the first in Ukraine.

Ukroboronprom, a state consortium of arms manufacturers that has been mired in corruption, is undergoing serious reforms to increase transparency and accountability of its branches.

And in 2019, an investigative report detailed how the son of then-President Petro Poroshenko’s childhood friend and ally, Oleh Hladkovskiy, orchestrated a plan to smuggle used military components out of Russia and sell them to the Ukrainian military for double or even triple their price.

The scandal sparked public protests and lowered Poroshenko’s approval ratings ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Zelenskyi, a popular comedian with no political background, won the election and vowed to root out corruption.