Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday fired a senior military commander helping lead the fight against Russian troops in the country's embattled east but gave no reason for the move.
In a one-line decree, Zelensky announced the dismissal of Eduard Moskalyov as commander of the Joint Forces of Ukraine, which are engaged in battles in the Donbas region.
The Joint Forces of Ukraine were established in 2014 as a response to Russia's seizure of the Crimea Peninsula and has been a significant part of the Ukrainian forces fighting against Russia in the war that began a year ago with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Zelensky mentioned Moskalyov in a daily address on Friday when listing the military commanders he had spoken to. Moskalyov had been in the post since March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Was Moskalyov fired for corruption?
Zelensky's dismissal of Moskalyov comes following an announcement earlier this month that Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov would be replaced in what was only the latest in a number of changes to Ukraine's military leadership.
Reznikov was set to be transferred to another ministerial position while Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR military intelligence agency, would replace him.
The exact reason for this announcement was unclear at the time, though senior Ukrainian lawmaker David Arakhamia indicated that in a time of war, Ukrainian "force" agencies like the Defense Ministry should be led by career defense or security officials rather than politicians.
However, Reznikov and his Defense Ministry were also mired in corruption scandals early in 2023, specifically regarding an army food contract that envisaged paying vastly inflated prices.
Reznikov himself, who still sits as defense minister at the time of writing, denied claims that he was being replaced, though did admit that his own anti-corruption efforts in the Defense Ministry failed, according to Politico.
Further corruption has also been detected in numerous other Ukrainian agencies, which resulted in several officials being fired for sabotaging their service amid a time of war, Politico reported.
It is unclear if Moskalyov's dismissal is in some way related to the anti-corruption probe.
One year of war in Ukraine
Friday was the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the war and was marked by a United Nations resolution that said Russia needs to withdraw from Ukraine which was voted by 147 nations including Israel.