Ukraine president appoints new defense officials

Kiev: Ukraine`s president has appointed new officials to top defense posts as he pledged to stamp out the corruption that has left the country`s armed forces faltering before a pro-Russian insurgency. A statement published online late yesterday announced the appointments of Col Gen Valery Heletey as defense minister and Lt Gen Viktor Muzhenko as chief of the military`s General Staff.

Poroshenko also appointed Yury Kosyuk, an agriculture magnate and one of Ukraine`s richest men, to oversee defense issues in the presidential administration, and promised to "purge the army of thieves and grafters." Accusations of corruption have been rife as Kiev`s operation against the rebels continues. Kiev has struggled to assert control over the country`s industrial east, where fighting between government troops and pro-Russia separatists has claimed more than 400 lives since April.