Ukraine to dismiss military commissars, system should be managed by people with frontline experience, Zelensyy says 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this in a video message on Telegram. 

According to him, the NSDC meeting heard reports from the State Bureau of Investigation, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine on the results of the inspection of military enlistment offices. It is noted that 12 criminal proceedings have already been opened against military enlistment office officials and 33 suspicions have been announced.

The President said that cases of corruption were recorded in different regions: Donetsk, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Kyiv, and Lviv regions. Therefore, it was decided to dismiss all regional military commissars. 

"Our decision. We are dismissing all regional military commissars. This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is high treason. Instead, soldiers who have been to the front or who cannot be in the trenches because they have health problems, lost their limbs, but have retained their dignity and have no cynicism - they can be entrusted with this recruitment system," Zelenskyy emphasized.

He entrusted the implementation of this decision to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi and noted that before being appointed, the new heads would have to undergo a vetting by the Security Service of Ukraine. 

"The issue of the Military Commission. The National Security and Defense Council will hold a meeting on this issue in two weeks. Now we are checking and preparing proposals. We will also make decisions," the president added.

What is known about the situation with the regional territorial center for recruitment and social support 

Following the publication of an investigation by Ukrainska Pravda journalists into the purchase of a villa by the head of the Odesa Regional Territorial Recruitment Center, Yevhen Borysov, at the end of 2022, the authorities began inspections of the regional territorial center for recruitment and social support. Borisov purchased a villa in the Spanish resort of Marbella. Its cost is almost EUR 4 million. The head of the Odesa Territorial Recruitment Center registered the real estate not in his name, but in the name of his retired mother. Borysov's wife became the owner of an office space on the main street of Marbella.

The South Operational Command responded to the head’s trip abroad stating, "It was established that his travel abroad at that time was absolutely authorized and permitted." However, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the scandal with the head of the Odesa Territorial Recruitment Center, Yevhen Borysov, and ordered his dismissal.

On June 28, it became known that Yevhen Borysov no longer holds the position of head of the Odesa Territorial Recruitment Center. Subsequently, the Ministry of Defense promised to react harshly and bring military officers to justice for unworthy behavior.

On July 4, it became known that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi appointed a new head of the Odesa Territorial Recruitment Center. The new head was Colonel Oleksandr Okhrimenko.

Working groups of the Ministry of Defense received more than 2,300 appeals from citizens regarding corruption in the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers. The State Bureau of Investigation announced 21 suspicions.