UPDATE - Ukrainian Prime Minister on Chopping Block Amid Corruption Scandal - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2023) Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal may be next to go in a major government shakeup announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week in a bid to root out endemic corruption, Ukrainian media reported.

Zelenskyy said on Monday there would be changes to the cabinet after Ukrainian media reported on irregularities in military procurement schemes. Several senior officials and governors have since been fired or said they have quit.

The announcement came a day after Vasyl Lozynskyy, the acting minister for regional development and Shmyhal's confidant, was arrested on bribery charges.

Major Ukrainian daily Strana.ua quoted an unnamed government official as saying that Lozynskyy's ouster did not bode well for the prime minister.

"His case will be used to target the premier or maybe even to have Shmyhal removed from office," the official told the newspaper.

Shmyhal has reportedly sought to distance himself from the disgraced minister, whom he appointed his first deputy after taking office in 2020. Shmyhal's removal would lead to the government's resignation and allow Zelenskyy to pick a new prime minister, subject to parliamentary approval.

Later on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president reshuffled regional governments, firing governors of Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy regions, as well as heads of the Kiev-controlled parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

At the same time, Oleksiy Kuleba, the dismissed governor of the Kiev region, was immediately appointed by Zelenskyy as deputy chief of his office. Kuleba replaced Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who has been implicated in corruption scandals.

A number of Ukrainian officials, including members of Zelenskyy's office, deputy ministers and governors, have been dismissed over the past 24 hours amid high-profile bribery scandals.