Reznikov may be replaced as defense minister and appointed ambassador to UK - MP

This was stated by the Member of Parliament Oleksiy Honcharenko.

"The President's Office has long been thinking of removing Reznikov from the post of head of the Defense Ministry. Even after the 17 UAH eggs, there were active attempts to remove Reznikov and replace him with Budanov," he wrote.

Honcharenko added that Reznikov himself did not mind resigning, as he wanted to move to the Ministry of Justice. However, according to him, after the dismissal of former Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko, the President's Office decided to send a minister as ambassador, not a professional diplomat.

"The President's Office has already asked how Reznikov will be perceived in Britain. And they received a favorable answer," Honcharenko said.

Scandals around the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

• On January 21, the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia newspaper published information that the Ministry of Defense was purchasing food for the military at prices much higher than those in Kyiv retail chains, citing the defense ministry's food procurement agreement. The Ministry of Defense later called the allegations "deliberately manipulated”. 

• On January 23, National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine was told that it had been aware of possible abuses by the Defense Ministry in the procurement of food for the military even before the media reports. The very next day, the Cabinet of Ministers made a personnel decision to dismiss Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov, who had previously submitted his resignation. On February 2, the court imposed a pre-trial restraint on him in the form of detention with the possibility of bail in excess of UAH 400 million.

• The next day, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that it had served a notice of suspicion to an adviser to the Deputy Minister of Defense who was involved in a scheme to embezzle more than UAH 1.7 billion in procurement for the Armed Forces.

• Later, it was reported that an anti-corruption council consisting of civil society representatives would help combat bribery within the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. On February 8, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov announced the restart of the anti-corruption department, which will include a mechanism of public control. Later, it became known that representatives of 13 civil society organizations had joined the working group to create an anti-corruption advisory body at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

• And on February 28, the Ministry of Defense made changes to eight contracts on the organization of food procurement for the army. In particular, the price of eggs became 8.40.

• On July 21, Ukrainska Pravda journalists published an article reporting that the Defense Ministry had signed a UAH 1.4 billion agreement with Lviv Arsenal last fall to supply 82 mm and 120 mm mines. However, the Armed Forces have not yet received a single mine under the signed contract.