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COVID-19 under Zelensky

Ukraine’s new Health Minister Illia Yemets on March 12, 2022 said at the start of an interview broadcast by pro-Russia TV 112.ua that he is not to blame for the unfolding disaster involving the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.

Ukrainian Health Minister Illia Yemets

Yemets said he supports announcing a state of emergency in Ukraine.

"I spoke about this from the first day of my work in the government. It had to be done from the very beginning. If it had been done, then there wouldn't have been such a spread (of the disease)," he said.

Another bright idea is paying medical workers hourly wages.

"At the next meeting of the government, I will make the following proposal: during the epidemic, it is necessary to switch to hourly wages for medical personnel. I think now this decision will be supported,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) has opened a criminal investigation into the possible official negligence of Cabinet officials in the implementation of measures aimed at counteracting the spread of COVID-19.

"Deputy Prosecutor General, head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office Nazar Kholodnytsky registered a criminal proceeding on the fact of possible official negligence of officials of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine," SAPO said on Facebook on Monday.

According to the post, on January 31 and February 8, 2020, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov sent letters to Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk about the urgent need to limit the export and re-export of products that can be directly or indirectly used in the implementation of anti-epidemic, preventive and therapeutic measures in Ukraine to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Cabinet ignored the proposals of the NSDC secretary.

SAPO said the information on the possible commission of a criminal offense was entered into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations on the grounds of a crime under Part 2 of Article 367 of Ukraine's Criminal Code on March 23, 2020. In accordance with Article 214 of Ukraine’s Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Investigation of the matter was entrusted to investigators of the central office of Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations (SBI).

Honcharuk served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from August 29, 2019 to March 4, 2020.