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

Channel: BBC News

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Id: EzH7xFh5GYo

Length: 4min 16sec (256 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023