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Ukrainian Agriculture Minister resigns over corruption suspicions: 793rd day of war

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The Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine submitted his resignation, in a letter released this Thursday by the President of Parliament. Mykola Solsky is accused of appropriating State land, before joining the Government.

“I ask you to accept my resignation from the post of Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food”, reads the letter that reached the Ukrainian Parliament – ​​a request that the deputies must now accept or reject. The minister considers that his resignation letter was “the right thing to do”, but assures that he is willing to “continue working” if Parliament refuses his resignation.

On Tuesday, the national anti-corruption agency announced that Solsky was suspected of having seized public land with an “approximate value of 6.9 million euros” and of having “attempted to appropriate other land” assessed at almost 4.5 million euros. To this end, according to the authorities, he acted in concert with officials from the State’s property registration and cartography service. Between 2017 and 2021, they are suspected of having seized almost 2,500 hectares in the Sumy region, in northeastern Ukraine, through a system that involved the diversion of official documents. According to his official biography, Mykola Solsky worked at a law firm until 2019, was elected deputy of parliament that year and appointed minister in March 2022. The accused also tried to appropriate another 3,282 hectares of land, but were “prevented”. to do so by prosecutors and anti-corruption agents, indicated the national anti-corruption agency. The Ministry of Agriculture released a response from Mykola Solsky to these accusations, in which he states that between 2017 and 2018 he worked as a lawyer and not in public office.

Several cases of corruption have emerged in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion of the country in February 2022, particularly within the Armed Forces, but these generally involve low-ranking officers.

Other news that marked the day

Ukraine will stop issuing passports abroad to men between 18 and 60 years old. The decision was announced a day after the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, announced imminent measures to bring men of fighting age living abroad back to the country. The country already prohibits these men from traveling abroad, with rare exceptions.

NATO’s secretary general called on Alliance countries to increase military spending, following tensions with Russia, and criticized the fact that Ukraine has not received the aid promised in recent months. Jens Stoltenberg, speaking in Berlin, said that for the alliance to remain strong, it needs to strengthen its deterrence and defense capabilities, increase support for Ukraine and cooperate with allies around the world to “defend freedom.” .

Representatives from Moscow and Kiev met for the first time in Qatar to discuss the return of children separated from their families by the war in Ukraine, Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova said today. , the first face-to-face negotiations were held today with the Ukrainian side, where help for families who want to reunite was discussed”, said the Russian politician, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), on her Telegram account. Both Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin are under arrest warrants issued by the ICC, which has accused them of illegally deporting children and transferring them from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the territory of Russia, which constitutes a crime of war.”

Russia considered that the sending of American ATACMS missiles to Ukraine “will not change”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov downplayed American aid to Kiev and accused the United States of getting involved in the conflict. The US State Department announced on Wednesday that the United States had sent ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in February “at the direct request of President” Joe Biden.

The article is in Portuguese

Tags: Ukrainian Agriculture Minister resigns corruption suspicions #793rd day war

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