Ukraine appointed a new head of its National Anti-Corruption Bureau on Monday, filling a post that has been vacant for around 11 months, the country's prime minister said.
Semen Kryvonos was appointed at a special Cabinet meeting after beating two other candidates in a "transparent voting process," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on his Telegram news channel.
The European Union has been putting pressure on Ukraine for a while now to counter corruption, marking it an important step for the country's EU accession.
Ukrainian media reports say Kryvonos, a lawyer from the southern port city of Mariupol, has close links to the presidential office of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Some activists and journalists argue that these links may be counterproductive for his role.
The anti-corruption office, set up in 2015 with Western assistance, was headed by Artem Sytnyk for seven years up to mid-April last year. The post was vacant for several months after his term of office expired.
Ukraine remains one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, after Russia, despite several reform efforts, Transparency International, which monitors corruption, said in a report this year.
The Ukrainian Defence Ministry was embroiled in a scandal earlier this year concerning the purchase of overpriced food for its troops.
