Irish Examiner view: Corruption frustrates Ukraine's war effort

Ukraine must be willing to fight corruption even as the country continues to defend itself from the illegal Russian invasion

Defence minister Oleksii Reznikov has not himself been accused of corruption but Ukraine's government, frustrated at the lack of progress on the frontline, has fired him. File picture: Sergei Kholodilin/BelTA/AP

In times of war, there is a special pressure on those charged with the execution of the conflict and, in the context of  Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the generals commanding the defence and counter-offensive activities of the Ukrainian armed forces have had a dual threat with which to contend.   

On the one hand, former defence minister Oleksii Reznikov has had to marshal his combined forces to face the threats to his people and his country posed by the Russians, while on the other contending with widening and ongoing investigations into internal corruption.