Zelenskyy signs decree to dismiss all army recruitment chiefs in Ukraine’s regions

This is stated on the President's website.

This decree enacts the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of August 11, 2023 "On the results of the inspection of the territorial recruitment and social support centers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces."

"To recommend to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to make a decision on the tenure of the heads of the regional territorial centers of recruitment and social support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stopping the practice of their rotation," the NSDC decision says.

Also, according to the NSDC decision, officers who have been recommended by the commanders of operational and tactical groups, operational and strategic groups of troops and who are directly involved in hostilities will be appointed to the positions of military recruitment heads known as military commissars.

The recommended officers will also be vetted by the Security Service of Ukraine.

In addition, the decision recommends that the Prosecutor General's Office, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention and the State Bureau of Investigation take additional measures within a month to counteract corruption and other criminal offenses committed by the heads of territorial recruitment and social support centers.

Criminal cases opened against military officers 

On July 26, the Ministry of Defense's working groups received more than 2,300 complaints from citizens related to corruption within the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers. The State Bureau of Investigation subsequently announced 21 suspicions in connection with these allegations.

During a series of nearly one hundred searches conducted at the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers across 11 regions of Ukraine, law enforcement agencies exposed a scheme aimed at evading military service.

Law enforcement officers report that officials of one of the training centers for National Guard units awarded themselves and their subordinates a monthly bonus of UAH 100,000. This extra payment is intended for those directly involved in hostilities.

On August 3, the State Bureau of Investigation apprehended an official from the Kyiv City Military Administration who is suspected of orchestrating a scheme to illicitly send men abroad using certificates of being unfit for military service.

The Security Service detained the head of one of the military registration and enlistment offices in the Poltava region, accusing him of taking a bribe. Law enforcement also served notice of suspicion to two officials in the Cherkasy region who allegedly sold fake disability certificates to men traveling abroad.

On August 5, in Kyiv, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General's Office detained and served a notice of suspicion to the head of the Holosiivskyi District Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support. He faces up to 9 years in prison.

On August 7, the head of the Poltava district recruitment center was suspected of brutally beating a subordinate at midnight near his home with two colleagues. 

On August 9, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the head of one of Kyiv's district recruitment and social support centers was suspected of corruption.