Hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky promised “new reforms,” Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday conducted a series of anti-corruption searches across the country, according to the country’s parliamentary majority leader.
David Arakhamia announced on Telegram that authorities were conducting a “spring raid campaign instead of sowing campaign.”
Alongside “a whole series of covert investigative actions,” Arakhamia said that property searches were conducted of former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, businessman Ihor Kolomoisky, and politician Vadim Stolar.
He said that the “entire management of the customs” agency has been dismissed, there have been “searches in the State Tax Service,” and that authorities have served “notices of suspicion to senior officials of the Ministry of Defense.”
“The country will change during the war,” he said. “If someone is not ready for change, the state will come and help them change.”
Zelensky announced on Tuesday that his administration is preparing to introduce changes ahead of talks between Kyiv and the European Union scheduled for Friday.
“We are preparing new reforms in Ukraine. Reforms that will change the social, legal and political reality in many ways, making it more human, transparent and effective,” Zelensky said in a video address, adding that further details would be announced at a later date.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had announced the “summit” earlier on Tuesday but provided no details on who would attend.
Shmyhal told Politico in an interview published Monday that Ukraine, which was granted EU candidate status in June last year, has an “ambitious plan” to join the bloc within the next two years.
