Ukraine’s prosecutor general Andriy Kostin resigns amid draft-dodging scandal

(Reuters) – Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said on Tuesday he had resigned, in the wake of a domestic scandal where dozens of officials are alleged to have abused their position to receive disability status and avoid military service.

The resignation followed a meeting of the national security and defence council, where officials discussed how to crack down on corruption and on loopholes to get draft deferrals.

Kostin’s office has recently been rocked by allegations against dozens of local officials, including prosecutors, who are alleged to have misused their positions to obtain disability status.

“The Prosecutor General must take political responsibility for the situation in the prosecution bodies of Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in a strongly worded statement published on social media after the security council meeting.

Kostin’s resignation statement followed minutes later. The prosecutor called the situation around the false disability diagnoses “clearly amoral” and agreed with Zelenskiy about the need for personal responsibility.

“In this situation, I believe it is right to announce my resignation from the position of Prosecutor General.”

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Max Hunder; Editing by Kevin Liffey)