Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday fired the head of the country’s security service and its attorney general, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings for treason and collaboration of people in his departments.
“In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecution and the [Security Service of Ukraine] we have stayed in the occupied territory and are working against our state, ”Zelenskyy said.
“Such a set of crimes against the foundations of state national security and the links between the Ukrainian security forces and the Russian special services raise very serious questions about their respective leaders,” he said.
He dismissed Attorney General Iryna Venediktova and replaced her with his deputy Oleksiy Symonenko.
He also fired Ivan Bakanov, the head of the Ukrainian security service, the SBU. Bakanov was a longtime friend of Zelenskyy, according to Ukrainian news agencies.
Ivan Bakanov, the head of the security service of Ukraine, on the left, meets with Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova at a press conference in Kyiv on May 11. Zelenskyy fired them both on Sunday. (Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters)
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is looming in the south
In the early hours of Sunday, Russian missiles struck industrial facilities in Mykolaiv, a strategic city in southern Ukraine. Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said the missiles hit an industrial and infrastructure facility in the city, a key shipbuilding center on the Southern Bug River estuary. There was no immediate information about the victims.
Mykolaiv has faced regular Russian missile attacks in recent weeks as the Russians have tried to soften Ukrainian defenses.
The Russian army has declared the goal of cutting off the entire Black Sea coast of Ukraine to the Romanian border. If successful, this effort would be an overwhelming blow to Ukraine’s economy and trade and allow Moscow to secure a land bridge with Moldova’s Transnistrian separatist region, which hosts a Russian military base.
Earlier in the campaign, Ukrainian forces thwarted Russian attempts to capture Mykolaiv, located near the Black Sea coast between the Russian-occupied Crimea and the main Ukrainian port of Odessa. Since then, Russian troops have stopped their attempts to advance on the city, but have continued to hit both Mykolaiv and Odessa with regular missile attacks.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, chaired by President Vladimir Putin, responded to statements by Ukrainian officials that Kyiv could hit the bridge between Crimea and Russia, warning that this would have devastating consequences for Ukrainian leadership. .
“At the moment they will face Doomsday,” Medvedev said on Sunday. “It would be very difficult for them to hide.”
Medvedev, who was once promoted by the West as more liberal compared to Putin, said Russia will pressure its action on Ukraine until it meets its stated goal of “de-destabilizing” and “demilitarizing” the country. He predicted that the clashes “without any doubt will lead to the collapse of the existing regime” in Kyiv.
MIRAR | What happened in the 21st week of Russia’s attack on Ukraine:
What happened in the 21st week of Russia’s attack on Ukraine
Russian missiles hit cities in central and southwestern Ukraine far from the front line of the conflict and Ukraine said Canada’s decision to return turbines used in a pipeline to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany will be seen as a sign of weakness for Moscow. Here is a summary of the war in Ukraine from 9 to 15 July.
The spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, the lieutenant general. Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday that Russian missiles destroyed a repository of Harpoon anti-missile missiles delivered to Ukraine by NATO allies, a claim that could not be independently confirmed.
The Russians, fearing a Ukrainian counter-offensive, also tried to strengthen their positions in the Kherson region near Crimea and in part in the northern Zaporizhzhia region that they seized in the early stages of the war.
The British Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russia is moving troops and equipment between Kherson, Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia, and increasing security measures around Melitopol.
He added: “Given the pressures on Russian labor, the strengthening of the south as the struggle for the Donbass continues indicates the seriousness with which Russian commanders see the threat.”
Fight for the Donbas
For now, the Russian army has focused on trying to take control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas, home of Moscow-backed separatists and home to the most capable and well-equipped Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine says its forces still maintain control of two small villages in the Luhansk region, one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas, and are defending themselves from Russian attempts to advance further into the second, the region of Luhansk. Donetsk.
The Ukrainian army staff said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops thwarted Russian attempts to advance on Sloviansk, Ukraine’s key bastion in Donetsk, and attacks on other places in the region.
However, Russian officials are calling on their troops to produce even more territorial gains. During a visit to the front lines on Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an order “to further intensify the actions of the units in all operational areas.”