Foreign

Ukraine War: Zelensky Sacks Security Chief, Top Prosecutor

By Web News 446

President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the head of Ukraine’s security agency (SBU) and the prosecutor general, citing many cases of treason in the two powerful organisations.

He said more than 60 former employees were now working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied areas.

A total of 651 collaboration and treason cases had been opened against law enforcement officials, he added.

The sacked officials, Ivan Bakanov and Iryna Venediktova, have not commented.

In his video address late on Sunday, Mr Zelensky said: “Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the national security of the state… pose very serious questions to the relevant heads [of the two organisations].

“Each of these questions will receive a proper answer,” the Ukrainian president added.

The sacking of SBU chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of Mr Zelensky’s, follows the high-profile arrest of a former SBU regional head in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. Oleh Kulinych is suspected of treason.

In other developments on Sunday:

  • Ukraine says a significant number of Russian warships in the Black Sea were moved from Crimea further east to the port of Novorossiysk. This comes as Kyiv has received further deliveries of longer-range missile systems from its Western allies
  • Dozens of distraught relatives and local residents attended the funeral of four-year-old Liza, who was one of 24 people killed when Russian missiles hit the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on 14 July
  • Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, warned Ukraine of a “Judgement Day” if it were to attack Crimea

BBC/Simeon Ugbodovon

Foreign

Battle for Severodonetsk Decisive to East Ukraine War Outcome – Zelenski

By Web News 503

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky has said that fighting for the city of Severodonetsk may decide the outcome of the war in the east of the country.

“In many respects, the fate of the Donbas is being decided there,” he said as combat raged in the industrial belt with Russian and separatist forces.

He said his troops were inflicting major losses on enemy forces, but Ukrainian forces have been pushed back to the outskirts, according to the region’s top Ukrainian official.

“Our forces now again control only the outskirts of the city,” he told local media. “but the fighting is still going on, our [forces] are defending Severodonetsk.” “It is impossible to say the Russians completely control the city,” he added.

Some 15,000 civilians remained in Severodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk, the governor said.

Russia said on Wednesday that Ukraine was suffering “significant losses in manpower, weapons and military equipment” in the Donbas.

The focus of the war switched to the east at the end of March after Russian forces pulled back from the region around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Large parts of the Donbas have been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since earlier fighting in 2014-15.

In another development, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned that the consequences for the world of Russia’s invasion were worsening, with 1.6 billion people affected.

“The war’s impact on food security, energy and finance is systemic, severe and speeding up,” he said.

Russia invaded on 24 February, saying it was seeking to demilitarise and “de-Nazify” Ukraine, a claim that has been widely discredited.

Since the war began, at least 4,253 civilians have been killed and 5,141 injured according to the UN, along with thousands of combatants on both sides, while more than 14 million people have fled their homes.

BBC/Adebukola Aluko