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

Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned time has come for Ukraine for brand spanking new modifications, which can 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 help to assist the warfare effort, however has been dogged by graft allegations surrounding his ministry that he has described as smears.

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

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

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

His obvious exit seems to deliver 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 in the course of 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 amenities and infrastructure. However Romania’s defence ministry has denied Kyiv’s claims.

Ukraine’s air drive mentioned not 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 amenities, agricultural equipment, and industrial gear in a number of settlements of the Izmail district.

Romania is a member of the NATO navy alliance. In a press release 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 neighborhood, and has been a part of the Ukrainian authorities process 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 baby when the Tatars, an Turkic ethnic group, have been allowed to return within the 1980s and 1990s.

In September 2022, Mr Umerov, then a lawmaker from the pro-European Holos get together, turned head of the State Property Fund, an company promoting state belongings to personal 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 in the course of 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 Might, 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 submit on X, previously Twitter, on Monday.

He wrote: “It was an honor to serve the Ukrainian folks and work for the #UAarmy for the final 22 months, the hardest interval of Ukraine’s trendy 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 essential 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 amenities 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 Pressure mentioned.

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 Pressure 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 amenities, agricultural equipment, and industrial gear 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 menace group has probably used a malware referred to as “Notorious Chisel” to steal delicate navy info from Ukrainian navy, the British Ministry of Defence mentioned right now.

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

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

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

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

Russia launched a significant Ukraine grain exporting port this morning, damaging warehouses and setting buildings on hearth, Ukraine mentioned, hours earlier than Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, have been because 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 hearth, 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 turn out to be 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 keeping with preliminary experiences, there have been no casualties or accidents.

The Russian president and his Turkish Putin and Erdogan are anticipated to satisfy right now 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 worldwide meals disaster. Ankara referred to as the talks 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 Pressure inflatable boats have been heading within the course of Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean Peninsula.

Navy offensive and fight within the Black Sea waters has picked up within the latest weeks with Russia recurrently 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 right now.

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

“The primary crew that efficiently accomplished this process 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 ceaselessly 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 keeping with the ministry’s Telegram channel.

The Kinzhal is one among six “subsequent era” 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 right now.

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 fireplace at a non-residential constructing within the metropolis of Kurchatov.

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