Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sacked the country’s chief prosecutor and security service chief on Sunday night over suspicions of treason by some of their subordinates to benefit the Russians, on the eve of a Union meeting European Union (EU) aimed at strengthening sanctions against Moscow.
“I have taken the decision to relieve the Prosecutor General, Iryna Venediktova, and the head of the security services, Ivan Bakanov, from their duties, Mr Zelensky said, as Russia continues its bombardments on several Ukrainian cities .
Ukrainian authorities are investigating more than 650 cases of suspected treason by local officials, including 60 in areas occupied by Russian and pro-Russian forces, he added in his evening message.
“Such a large number of crimes against the foundations of national security and the links established between Ukrainian law enforcement officials and Russian special services raise very serious questions for the leaders concerned. Each of these questions will be answered,” he continued. Mme Venediktova notably led the investigation into the alleged atrocities committed at the start of the invasion by Russian forces in the town of Boutcha, a suburb north-west of kyiv, which in the eyes of the West has become a symbol of “war crimes Russians in Ukraine.
On Monday, European Union foreign ministers will debate tougher sanctions against Moscow, as the successive salvos adopted so far have isolated and hit Russia hard economically, without making it back down or abandoning its invasion. February 24.
They must consider two European Commission proposals to ban gold purchases from Russia to bring EU sanctions in line with those of its G7 partners, and to blacklist new Russian figures of the EU.
“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, after transmitting the new measures to the Twenty-seven.
The Russian army has already lost 50,000 men, dead or wounded, and thousands of armored vehicles, according to the Chief of the British Armed Forces, Admiral Tony Radakin, i.e. “more than 30% of its effectiveness in land combat”.
However, “the challenge posed by Russia will last”, he warned, stressing that betting on a health problem for Vladimir Putin or “that he ends up being assassinated” was “pious wish”.
The Kremlin master claimed earlier this month that the Russian military had “not yet started serious things”, and his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, ordered last week to “further increase” the pressure military.
Barely three days after cruise missile strikes that devastated the center of Vinnytsia, hundreds of kilometers from the front, killing at least 24 people, including children, and prompting the European Union to denounce ‘barbaric behaviour’, the shelling continues.
Russia announced on Saturday that it had officially ended the “operational pause” of its army decreed eight days ago, and the bombardments resumed with more intensity in the Donbass (east), whose total control is the main objective. in the short term from Moscow.
“Massive bombings”
Donetsk, one of the two provinces of Donbass, was targeted by “the Russians [qui] continue to bomb civilian infrastructure, especially educational institutions,” said regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Pro-Russian separatists, who have held part of the region since 2014, accused Ukrainian forces of firing 60 rockets from Grad multiple rocket launchers at a neighborhood in Donetsk.
“Residential buildings were hit,” they said, posting images of buildings reduced to ruins, without reporting any casualties.
In the northeast, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, missiles hit Kharkiv, the country’s second city, close to the Russian border. Other strikes targeted Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea, and villages in the region, according to Vitaliy Kim, the local governor.
President Zelensky also again criticized on Sunday the Canadian decision, taken last week, to allow the return to Europe of turbines repaired in Canada and intended for the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream.
He said he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he spoke to on the phone during the day, that the Ukrainians would never accept this decision, which he said violates the sanctions regime against Russia.
In Russia, Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova, who became famous after appearing live on television with a sign criticizing Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, was arrested on Sunday, her entourage and her lawyer said.
No official statement has been made on the reasons for his arrest, but it comes a few days after Mme Ovsiannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding up a sign criticizing the military intervention in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.
The war in Ukraine will enter its sixth month on July 24, and there is no overall civilian death toll from the conflict so far.