Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General and Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios says former Ukrainian defense ministers Mykhailo Yezhel and Pavlo Lebedev have been put on the wanted list. Matios added that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are also seeking to question several former high-ranking military officials.

"Former defense ministers Lebedev and Yezhel are on the wanted list <…> Ilyin, the admiral and former chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forced of Ukraine has also been placed on the wanted list. He is suspected of participation in a criminal organization and desertion. Navy Commander Rear Admiral Berezovsky, along with Deputy Navy Commanders Rear Admiral Shakur and Vice-Admiral Yeliseyev are also accused of desertion and treason," Matios said in an interview with the Segodnya daily newspaper published on March 14.

"Yezhel has been convalescing in a Belarusian military hospital. ... If Yezhel is in territory of another state and, according to official information, is sick, there is no other choice under law but to wait for him to recover. We are not able to follow up on this case in Belarus," Matios said.

Matios said Yezhel is wanted for questioning about his decision to green-light the sale of army property in 2011. "The decision made by the then defense minister resulted in the unlawful sale of two Tu-95MS strategic bombers to a legal entity. The state lost more than UAH 24 million as a result. The aircraft and aircraft parts were seized before they could be sold to Russia," the military prosecutor said.