Soldiers have only one complaint about food: they need vegan menu – Defence Minister

Oleksii Reznikov, the Defence Minister of Ukraine, has said that despite the corruption scandals regarding the purchase of food by the Ministry of Defence, military personnel have only one complaint: about the lack of vegetarian food.

Source: Oleksii Reznikov at a press conference on 28 April

Details: Reznikov used the press conference to introduce two newly formed advisory bodies under the Ministry of Defence - the Public Anti-Corruption Council and the Office for Supporting Changes.

Reznikov said various interested parties, specifically the military, have high expectations of the Anti-Corruption Council.

Quote: "I returned yesterday from another official trip. I met with our servicemen in the field, and with the air defence units, and among other things, I asked them about the food. I was interested to hear any complaints they had about the food provided. Do you know what the complaint was? Just one: "Minister, we have some vegetarians, we need a vegan menu." That’s the only complaint I heard in the combat units yesterday.

I listened to them. I sketched it out for them then and there: so there should be a Lenten menu, kosher, halal, depending on their religious preferences – and that’s normal, there is nothing unusual about that.

But in terms of volume, quantity, quality and timeliness, there are no issues in any division. And I wasn’t in units stationed in the PPD [points of permanent deployment – ed.] – I was in fields, forests, combat positions where the men live in tents."

Background: On 10 April, the Ministry of Defence approved the membership of the Public Anti-Corruption Council. The members were elected by Ukrainians in a nationwide vote in March.

This was prompted by the exposure of corruption schemes in the Defence Ministry, including inflated prices for food procurement.

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