Zelenskyy acknowledges staffing crisis in government

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has admitted to the existence of a staffing crisis in the government which, though exacerbated by the full-scale war, was there even before the war broke out in 2022.

Source: Zelenskyy during a meeting with students on Saturday 16 November

Quote: "Yes, there is a staffing crisis. With the onset of war, for obvious reasons, a large number of people went to war, which was absolutely heroic, and we are grateful to them all; they are brave people. Sadly, there have been losses, and you are aware that these are significant losses.

The loss of one person is a lot, and the number of people who have been killed and injured [is far higher] – of course, these are specialists from various fields, not just state institutions, but also the private sector. And all of this overlaps... So there is a difficulty with staffing. It was there before the war as well."

Details: The President noted that working in the government is a "big, serious challenge", where "you do not know where to start".

"We had people from the private sector who were getting serious results, capable people, educated in Ukraine and elsewhere (France, the UK, America), people who had two or three degrees, experience, and successful businesses. They came to [work in these] institutions, to the state, to the bureaucracy that exists... Every state has bureaucracy; it needs to be digitised and reduced, but that’s a different subject. But when they took up this challenge – you can’t call it anything else today – and they became ministers, not everyone succeeded. And they were honest and said that this is a 24/7 job with a high level of political responsibility. None of that is easy," Zelenskyy said.

He added that students and young people in general should consider a career in state institutions.

"When you look at the average age in our Cabinet and institutions in general, we are significantly younger than those who served before our time, but that shouldn’t end here," Zelenskyy concluded. 

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