President Zelensky Warns Ukraine Not Tolerate Corruption And Betray: No One Forgives

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned he would not tolerate corruption or betrayal in state affairs, as they struggle to find ways to defend themselves from the Russian invasion.

President Zelensky delivered an anti-corruption call in his evening video address, when two important cases were revealed, the arrest of a military recruitment official accused of mass embezzlement and a lawmaker accused of collaborating with Russia.

Earlier, President Zelensky last month announced plans to audit military recruitment offices to eradicate corruption.

The move is part of a long-running policy to clean up the military and government departments, to show Western supporters he is serious in dealing with entrenched corruption, the measures that are the main element in the long process of obtaining EU membership.

Ukrainians who support war efforts are furious with corrupt practices, President Zelensky said.

"Let me warn all lawmakers, officials and everyone who works as civil servants," he said.

"When you spend days looking for weapons for the country, when everyone's attention comes to whether there are artillery, missiles and drones, you will feel the moral power our soldiers have given Ukraine," he explained.

"No one will forgive MPs, judges, military officials, or any other official who places themselves in opposition to the country," he stressed.

President Zelensky, speaking in front of lawmakers, said he would no longer tolerate those "for a personal advantage", refusing to support the legislation Ukraine needs to start its long campaign of obtaining EU membership.

"I don't want to see such resistances anymore," he said.

"Nobody wants to see that. Ukraine doesn't have time for that."

Earlier, authorities said the head of a military recruitment center in southern Ukraine accused of corruption and embezzlement had been ordered to be detained in pre-trial detention, with collateral equivalent to more than $4 million.

The National Agency for Corruption Prevention of Ukraine said Yevhen Bolysov, head of the military recruitment office in Odesa, was accused of obtaining funds without explanation equivalent to a value of more than $5 million.

Ukrainian media have reported in recent months on how their family acquired property in Spain.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General's office said lawmaker Oleksandr Ponomaryov, suspected of collaborating with Russia in Ukraine's occupied southeast region, had been arrested pending trial on charges of treason.

Ponomaryov, a lawmaker elected to a party now banned and accused of links to Russia, was detained without guarantees by the Pechersk District Court in Kyiv.

Ponomaryov itself has denied collaborating with Russia in the past.