International
Bribery scandals: Ukraine dismisses military recruiters
Bribery scandals: Ukraine dismisses military recruiters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired all regional military recruitment chiefs due to allegations of widespread graft. Ahead of the drastic move, all recruitment offices in Ukraine had been audited. According to the State Investigation Bureau, a total of 112 criminal cases were opened against representatives of recruitment offices, with 33 cases of suspected misconduct and 15 lawsuits launched.
“This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason,” Zelenskyy said after meeting with the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
Going forward, Zelenskyy said, all recruitment chiefs will be replaced by “soldiers who have been at the front or who cannot be in the trenches because they have lost their health, lost their limbs.”
Bribes and fakemedical certificates
This is not the president’s first attempt to tackle corruption in Ukraine. In recent weeks, several recruitment heads were mired in scandals. The former military commissioner of Odesa, Yevhen Borisov, for example, is accused of having accepted bribes and thereby amassed the equivalent of several million euros since the beginning of the war against Russia. According to media reports, Borisov is also alleged to have purchased luxury real estate in Spain, and expensive cars for relatives. He was dismissed from his post and arrested when these allegations surfaced.
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The audit of Ukrainian enlistment offices also revealed that, among other things, the recruitment chief of Oblast Zakarpattia, in western Ukraine, had used soldiers in the construction of his private estate. And in the city of Rivne, the head of a recruitment office had apparently mistreated his subordinates.
The head of a Donetsk recruitment office in eastern Ukraine was also arrested. He allegedly sent subordinates whom he was close with to join a combat brigade in the Ukrainian armed forces. While the men never took part in combat missions, they were fully paid. Numerous searches of recruitment offices in Kyiv and ten other regions revealed that forged medical certificates had been sold to allow individuals to evade military service.
President Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has promised arrests in some but not all cases. He also said that dismissed officials against whom there was no evidence of crimes or wrongdoing should go to the front to “keep their rank” and “prove their dignity.”
Tempted by graft
The Ukrainian public wants to see all regional recruitment heads replaced and Zelenskyy is fulfilling this wish, said Volodymyr Fesenko, who heads the Center of Applied Political Studies “Penta” in Kyiv.
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He said the president was now relying on people with combat experience to become “moral guardians against corruption in the system.”
At the same time, Fesenko added that this replacement wave was no proper reform and that the state could not provide complete protection against corruption.
“Even for the new chiefs, the temptations will be great in the system,” Fesenko said. “These are lucrative posts, because many people are trying to pay money in order not to have to go to war.”
He said the president was now relying on people with combat experience to become “moral guardians against corruption in the system.”
At the same time, Fesenko added that this replacement wave was no proper reform and that the state could not provide complete protection against corruption.
“Even for the new chiefs, the temptations will be great in the system,” Fesenko said. “These are lucrative posts, because many people are trying to pay money in order not to have to go to war.”
DW
International
Relief as Israel agrees to ceasefire with Lebanon
Relief as Israel agrees to ceasefire with Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will bring a US-brokered proposal for a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon to his government for approval as soon as Tuesday evening.
He said in a televised address that he would put “a ceasefire outline” to ministers “this evening”.
He however did not say how long the truce would last, noting “the length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon”.
But it later learnt that the ceasefire would is for 60 days.
During the period, Hezbollah fighters are expected to retreat 40 kilometres from Israel’s border, with Israeli ground forces withdrawing from Lebanese territory.
“If Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm, we will strike,” Netanyahu warned.
Key Israel backer the United States has led ceasefire efforts for Lebanon alongside France.
US President Joe Biden is optimistic the deal will lead to a “permanent cessation of hostilities”.
Biden added that the US would lead another push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“In full coordination with the United States, we are maintaining full military freedom of action,” Netanyahu said, outlining the seven-front war Israel says it faces in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
Even as Netanyahu spoke about the ceasefire, the Israeli military carried out multiple strikes on heart of Beirut while the army said some 15 projectiles had entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon.
Demonstrators raise placards and Israeli flags during a protest in front of the Israeli Defence Ministry in the coastal city Tel Aviv on November 26, 2024, against a possible ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. – Israel’s security cabinet has started discussing a proposed ceasefire deal in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, an Israeli official confirmed to AFP on November 26. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
The war in Lebanon escalated after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah, which said it was acting in support of Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
The war has killed at least 3,823 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.
On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.
Netanyahu said the ceasefire would allow Israel to focus on “the Iranian threat” and ramp up its fight against Hamas in Gaza.
“With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own,” he said.
“We will increase our pressure on Hamas and that will help us in our sacred mission of releasing our hostages.”
During last year’s Hamas attack, militants took 251 hostages, of whom 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the army has declared dead.
International
Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs
Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.
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Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.
As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.
Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs
ARAB NEWS
International
Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him
Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has fiercely criticised the legal cases brought against him, calling them “empty and lawless”.
He accused Democrats of weaponising the judicial system to target him as a political opponent.
In a strongly worded statement, Trump alleged that over $100 million in taxpayer money had been wasted in what he described as a politically driven effort to undermine his influence.
“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before,” he said, pointing to high-profile prosecutors, including Georgia’s Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James, as key figures in what he called a “political hijacking.”
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Trump also accused Willis of colluding with Nathan Wade, whom he described as “her lover” and lacking the experience to handle such cases.
He claimed Wade was paid “millions,” allegedly enabling lavish trips and cruises.
Letitia James, who is pursuing a civil fraud case against Trump, was also criticised.
He claimed she had campaigned on a promise to “get Trump” in her bid for office, an action he labelled “unethical” and “probably illegal.”
Trump also mentioned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, alleging that Bragg initially resisted prosecuting him but was pressured into action by the Justice Department and the Democratic Party.
Describing the series of legal actions as a “low point in the history of our Country,” Trump maintained his resolve, declaring: “I persevered, against all odds, and WON.”
Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him
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