KYIV—President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired a slew of senior officials on Tuesday in Ukraine’s biggest political shake-up of the war, saying he needed to clean up internal problems that were hurting the country.
A long-running battle against corruption in Ukraine is taking on vital significance as Russia’s invasion has made Kyiv heavily reliant on Western support and it pursues a bid to join the European Union.
The clear-out of over a dozen officials came days after the arrest of a deputy minister suspected of graft and allegations that were denied by the defense ministry and sparked an outcry.
“Any internal problems that interfere with the state are being cleaned up and will be cleaned up. This is only fair, it is necessary for our protection and it helps our rapprochement with the European institutions,” Zelenskyy said….