Ukraine’s President Shakes Up Military Leadership

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shook up his faltering military Thursday, appointing a new defense minister and top general while speaking angrily about the years of decay and corruption that left the forces unable to deal effectively with the well-armed eastern insurgency.

Poroshenko denounced the “complete collapse” of the government’s ability to supply the armed forces in a sometimes angry, finger-wagging speech in parliament.

He won quick approval for his choice of former top police official Valery Heletey as defense minister, replacing Mikhailo Koval. He also tapped Lt. Gen. Viktor Muzhenko as chief of the military’s general staff and Yury Kosyuk, an agriculture magnate and one of Ukraine’s richest men, to oversee defense issues in the presidential administration and to help “purge the army of thieves and grafters.” Accusations of corruption have been rife as Kiev’s operation against the rebels continues.

Poroshenko’s shakeup underscores the complex job he faces of making peace overtures and at the same time suppressing the insurgency that threatens to tear his country apart or create a permanent twilight zone beyond government control.

The president’s forceful words and demeanor contrasted with his emphasis on starting a peace process voiced in his inaugural address June 7. He declared a unilateral cease-fire for 10 days in hopes rebels would lay down their arms and join talks. But the cease-fire was repeatedly violated and ultimately expired. Foreign ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France are pushing to get talks going again by Saturday, with the aim of achieving a cease-fire honored by both sides.

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the July 4th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.