Ukrainian PM dismisses deputy healthcare minister arrested for bribes

Ukrainian Deputy Healthcare Minister Roman Vasylyshyn, who was arrested red-handed whilst accepting a bribe, has been dismissed from his post, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said.

"We've decided to dismiss him from this post, which absolutely makes sense after these events took place," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

He said that the individuals engaged in corrupt practices, including the arrested deputy healthcare minister, would be held accountable and that nobody would spare them.

"I have already commented on that, I have said, [they] will be put in prison, and there will be a lot of buzz about it. [...] And now the buzz is starting, and [they] will be in prison, and no one will help them," he said.

"We must purge away and root out mercilessly what was until recently absolutely normal practice – I mean, in quotes – which is corruption in the oil and gas sector, healthcare sector and in the halls of power," he said.

Groysman said he would in every possible way facilitate the holding to account of the individuals guilty of corruption.