Russia-Ukraine conflict: Zelensky sacks defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov as Putin strikes Kyiv grain port

Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned time has come for Ukraine for brand new modifications, which is able to contain exit of Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister since November 2021.

The 57-year-old former lawyer turned defence minister has helped safe billions of {dollars} of Western navy assist to assist the conflict effort, however has been dogged by graft allegations surrounding his ministry that he has described as smears.

Within the persevering with conflict, Mr Reznikov’s defence ministry lobbied the West to beat taboos on supplying highly effective navy gear to Ukraine, together with German-made foremost battle tanks and HIMARS rocket artillery. And after a lot bidding and pushing, Kyiv now seems poised to obtain US-made F-16 fighter jets quickly.

An English-speaker, Mr Reznikov is seen as having constructed up a powerful rapport with allied defence ministers and navy officers.

One member of parliament has tipped him as Ukraine’s doable new ambassador to London.

His obvious exit seems to convey an finish to months of home media stress that started in January when Mr Reznikov’s ministry was accused of shopping for meals at inflated costs.

Although he was not personally concerned within the meals contract, some Ukrainian commentators mentioned he ought to take political accountability for what occurred.

Final month, a Ukrainian media outlet accused his ministry of corruption throughout the procurement of winter coats for the military. He has denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly mentioned he was being focused by a smear marketing campaign.

Russian kamikaze drones fell and detonated on Romanian territory throughout an in a single day assault on Ukrainian port infrastructure, Ukraine’s defence ministry claimed.

It comes after Russia fired round 32 drones at Ukraine in Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts, damaging industrial services and infrastructure. However Romania’s defence ministry has “categorically” denied Kyiv’s claims.

Ukraine’s air drive mentioned no less than 23 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 drones have been shot down by the nation’s navy. It claimed the drones have been launched from the annexed Crimea.

The assault broken warehouses, manufacturing services, agricultural equipment, and industrial tools in a number of settlements of the Izmail district.

Romania is a member of the NATO navy alliance. In an announcement on Fb, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko, urged Western companions to hurry up provides of air defence methods to Ukraine.

Rustem Umerov, 41, is a number one member of the Crimean Tatar group, and has been a part of the Ukrainian authorities activity drive engaged on a method to finish Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsula since 2020.

He was born in Soviet Uzbekistan, after his household was exiled there from Crimea beneath Stalin, and moved again to the peninsula as a toddler when the Tatars, an Turkic ethnic group, have been allowed to return within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.

In September 2022, Mr Umerov, then a lawmaker from the pro-European Holos celebration, turned head of the State Property Fund, an company promoting state property to non-public traders.

He was additionally a member of the Ukrainian crew that held negotiations with Russia in March 2022, one month after Russia’s full-scale invasion. He additionally took half in talks on the Black Sea Grain deal and on exchanges of prisoners, together with Ukraine’s Azov fighters who have been captured throughout the battle for the southern metropolis of Mariupol in 2022.

Mr Umerov was a member of the delegation throughout a go to by Zelensky to Saudi Arabia in Could, and accompanied first woman Olena Zelenska throughout a go to to the United Arab Emirates in March.

Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov submitted his resignation letter to the chairman of Ukraine’s parliament, he mentioned in a publish on X, previously Twitter, on Monday.

He wrote: “It was an honor to serve the Ukrainian individuals and work for the #UAarmy for the final 22 months, the hardest interval of Ukraine’s fashionable historical past.”

It comes after Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky mentioned he determined to dismiss Mr Reznikov and would ask parliament this week to interchange him with Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s foremost privatisation fund.

It marks the most important shake-up of Ukraine’s defence institution since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Russian forces have fired round 32 kamikaze drones at Ukraine in Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts in a single day, inflicting injury to industrial services and infrastructure.

At the very least 23 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 drones have been shot down by Ukraine’s navy, the nation’s Air Force said.

The drones have been launched from Cape Chauda in annexed Crimea and Russia’s port city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk on the Azov Coastline, the Air Power mentioned.

Of those, Ukraine’s air defences downed 17 drones launched at Odesa oblast, however some hits have been nonetheless reported within the area, regional governor Oleh Kiper mentioned.

The assault broken warehouses, manufacturing services, agricultural equipment, and industrial tools in a number of settlements of the Izmail district, he mentioned.

Drone particles fell on civilian websites, inflicting fires which have already been put out, the official added.

No rapid casualties have been reported.

A Russian cyber risk group has seemingly used a malware known as “Notorious Chisel” to steal delicate navy data from Ukrainian navy, the British Ministry of Defence mentioned as we speak.

It cited a report by the Nationwide Cyber Safety Centre (NCSC) on a malware marketing campaign focusing on Android cellular gadgets utilized by the Ukrainian navy.

“The malware, known as ‘Notorious Chisel’, has been utilized by the Russian cyber risk group generally known as Sandworm. NCSC has beforehand attributed Sandworm to the Russian Normal Employees Essential Intelligence Directorate’s (GRU) Essential Centre for Particular Applied sciences (GTsST),” the ministry mentioned in its newest intelligence replace.

It added that the malware Notorious Chisel permits “persistent entry to, and the collation and exfiltration of information from, compromised Android gadgets” and this consists of focusing on purposes utilized by the Ukrainian navy.

“Notorious Chisel has extremely seemingly been used with the intention of stealing delicate navy data. This exercise demonstrates Russia’s continued use of cyber capabilities to assist the invasion of Ukraine,” the ministry mentioned.

Russia launched a serious Ukraine grain exporting port this morning, damaging warehouses and setting buildings on fireplace, Ukraine mentioned, hours earlier than Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, have been on account of maintain talks.

The drone assault lasted three and a half hours on the Danube River port of Izmail, in Ukraine’s Odesa area.

Regional governor mentioned drone particles additionally set a number of civilian infrastructure buildings on fireplace, the governor of the Odesa area mentioned.

After quitting the Black Sea grain deal, Moscow has launched frequent assaults on the ports of the Danube River, which has since change into Ukraine‘s main route for exporting grain.

About 17 drones have been shot down, however some hit their targets within the broader Izmail space, governor Oleh Kiper mentioned on Telegram. He added that in response to preliminary experiences, there have been no casualties or accidents.

The Russian president and his Turkish Putin and Erdogan are anticipated to satisfy as we speak within the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi as Ankara and the United Nations search to revive a Ukraine grain export deal that helped ease a world meals disaster. Ankara known as the talks very important for the deal.

4 US-made inflatable boats with Ukraine’s touchdown forces within the northwestern a part of the Black Sea has been destroyed by Russia’s naval drive, the Russian defence ministry mentioned on its Telegram channel.

The ministry mentioned the US-made Willard Marine Sea Power inflatable boats have been heading within the path of Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean Peninsula.

Army offensive and fight within the Black Sea waters has picked up within the latest weeks with Russia usually claiming to strike Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv has not issued a touch upon the experiences of rising offensive in its southern waters it shares with Russia.

The primary Russian crew to make use of hypersonic, air-launched Kinzhal missiles throughout Moscow’s navy operation in Ukraine has been introduced with state awards, the Russian TASS state information company reported as we speak.

“The Su-34 plane used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile throughout the particular navy operation,” TASS cited an unnamed navy supply as saying.

“The primary crew that efficiently accomplished this activity was introduced with state awards.”

Whereas Moscow has mentioned little or no thus far in regards to the Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, Ukraine’s navy says Russia makes use of them often within the persevering with invasion in opposition to civilian targets.

TASS didn’t say when Russia used the Kinzhal missiles for the primary time in Ukraine. The Russian defence ministry mentioned in March that the missiles had been deployed to destroy Ukrainian targets, in response to the ministry’s Telegram channel.

The Kinzhal is one among six “subsequent technology” weapons unveiled by Vladimir Putin in a speech in March 2018.

The Russian defence ministry has blamed Ukraine for launching drone assaults on the Kursk area of Russia in a single day from yesterday to this morning.

The ministry claimed its forces had shot down two drones after midnight as we speak.

Kursk area, bordering Ukraine to its west, noticed attacked round 1am, the ministry mentioned on its Telegram channel.

Final night, regional governor claimed particles from a downed drone sparked a hearth at a non-residential constructing within the metropolis of Kurchatov.

The positioning of assault is about 4km from one among Russia’s greatest nuclear crops, however there have been no experiences the plant was affected or focused.