Zelenskyy fires recruitment officials for accepting $10,000 bribes to help Ukrainian men dodge the draft: 'bribery during war is treason'
- All of Ukraine's recruitment chiefs were fired after an investigation revealed widespread corruption.
- Officials who recruited troops accepted bribes up to $10,000 to help people dodge the draft.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired all of his nation's army recruitment directors after an investigation revealed widespread corruption.
In actions the Ukrainian president labeled "treason," the recruitment chiefs in charge of onboarding new soldiers who had been drafted instead accepted bribes to help men avoid conscription and escape the war-torn country, Zelenskyy said in a statement.
"Some took cash, some took cryptocurrency — that's the only difference. The cynicism is the same everywhere," Zelenskyy said. "Illicit enrichment, legalization of illegally obtained funds, illegal benefit, illegal transportation of persons liable for military service across the border."
Criminal proceedings are ongoing against 33 officials of Ukraine's territorial recruitment centers. Regardless of whether they are facing criminal proceedings, the directors of every recruitment center have been dismissed and will be replaced with veterans of the war.
"This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason," Zelenskyy said. "Instead, warriors who have gone through the frontline 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 are the ones who can be entrusted with this system of recruitment."
Representatives for Ukraine's Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Insider previously reported the Ukrainian Army is facing a dire need for more manpower to support its long-awaited counteroffensive following heavy casualties sustained during the ongoing battle of Bakhmut, where both Russia and Ukraine continue to rack up devastating losses.
While Ukraine does not disclose the number of casualties it has sustained, Insider previously reported that General Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated in February that Ukraine had lost more than 100,000 soldiers since the war began last year.