Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - As Moscow appeared prepared to intensify military operations, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensk...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - As Moscow appeared prepared to intensify military operations, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy fired the director of the internal security service and the state prosecutor, alleging hundreds of cases of alleged treason and collaboration with Russia.
In Russian-occupied territory, Zelenskiy said that over 60 members of the SBU security service and prosecutor's office were working against Ukraine, and that 651 treason and collaboration charges had been filed against law enforcement personnel.
The dismissals of Ivan Bakanov, the head of the security service, and Iryna Venediktova, the prosecutor general, who oversaw efforts to bring charges against Russian war criminals, as well as the sheer volume of treason cases, on Sunday highlight the enormous challenge posed by Russian infiltration as Kyiv battles Moscow in what it claims is a battle for survival.
Such a wide range of offences against the state's fundamental principles of national security, according to Zelenskiy, "raise very severe concerns to the relevant leaders." "An appropriate response will be given to each of these queries.
Zelenskiy mentioned the recent treason arrest of the former head of the SBU in charge of Crimea, the peninsula that Russia invaded in 2014 but which Kyiv and the West still consider to be Ukrainian territory, in his nightly address to the country.
Zelenskiy said that his choice to oust the top security official at the beginning of the invasion was vindicated.
"Enough information has been gathered to place this person under suspicion of treason. All of his illicit activity is recorded, the man claimed.
3.0 CRUISER MISILES
Russian forces, used a campaign of catastrophic bombing to take control of significant swathes of Ukraine's south and east, where pro-Russian rebels already hold territory, after failing to take the country's capital Kyiv early in the invasion.
Zelenskiy claimed that more than 3,000 cruise missiles had been fired by Russia to date and that the amount of artillery and other strikes had been "difficult to count."
The funeral of 4-year-old Liza Dmytrieva, one of 24 people killed in a Russian missile assault on the city of Vinnytsia last week, was attended on Sunday by dozens of family members and locals.
Kyiv cites a number of successful strikes carried out against 30 Russian logistics and ammunition sites utilising various multiple launch rocket systems recently delivered by the West as evidence that Western long-range military transfers are starting to aid Ukraine on the battlefield.
According to the Ukrainian defence ministry, the strikes are disrupting Russian supply routes and drastically lowering Russia's military potential.
Two Russian Pantsir missile systems, three strategic communication systems, one radar station, two ammo dumps, and 11 armoured and military vehicles were all destroyed in the Kherson region on Sunday, according to a report from Ukraine's southern Operational Command.
The Ukrainian General Staff claimed in a statement released early on Monday that the Russian military is also using radio-electronic warfare to block satellite communication lines.
Russian operations are intensified
According to Ukraine, which on the weekend reported firing along the lines in what it said was preparation for a new attack, Russia has ordered military troops to step up efforts to prevent Ukrainian strikes on territories held by Russia.
According to the general staff of Ukraine, its soldiers have successfully resisted Russian attacks in a number of Donetsk area towns.
Currently, fighting is taking place close to Hryhorivka, which is close to the administrative border between the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Two persons were killed and 10 were injured in Avdiivka and Novy Donbas, according to the general staff of Ukraine, citing local officials, while at least ten explosions were reported overnight in the southern city of Mykolaiv. However, there was no information on casualties.
The reports could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters.
In response to pressure from Ukrainian forces and promises from Ukrainian authorities to drive Russia out, the British defence ministry reported on Sunday that Russia was bolstering defences in the southern Ukraine regions it controls.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin began an invasion he dubbed a "special military operation" in an effort to demilitarise its neighbour and purge it of potentially dangerous nationalists.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyiv and the West claim that it was an imperialist land grab and effort to retake a nation that had been freed from Moscow's control.
According to the United Nations, the largest conflict in Europe since World War Two has resulted in more than 5,000 fatalities, more than 6 million forced to escape Ukraine, and 8 million internal displacements.
Russia denies allegations from the West and Ukraine that its troops have committed war crimes and are targeting civilians.
