Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday evening the dismissal of the prosecutor general and head of the country’s security service in connection with suspicions of several cases of betrayal committed by local officials in favor of the Russians on the eve of a meeting of the European Union’s foreign affairs agency. ministers aimed at tightening sanctions against Russia.
“Today I have decided to release the prosecutor (Irina Venediktova) and the head of the security service (Ivan Bakanov),” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
He indicated that the Ukrainian authorities are currently investigating more than 650 cases of suspicion of treason committed by local officials, including 60 cases in areas occupied by Russian and pro-Moscow forces. Zelensky added that “a large number of crimes against the foundations of national security, established links between Ukrainian law enforcement officers and Russian special services” raise very serious questions, stressing that “each of these questions will be answered.”
In particular, Venediktova was investigating alleged atrocities at the start of the Russian invasion of the city of Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv that has become a symbol of Russia’s “war crimes” in Ukraine in the eyes of the West. .
It comes at a time when European Union foreign ministers are discussing tougher sanctions against Moscow on Monday, after previous sanctions have isolated Russia and caused great damage to its economy, without prompting the Kremlin to back down. On Monday, ministers are due to discuss a proposal by the European Commission to ban gold purchases from Russia in order to align EU sanctions with those of its G7 partners. Another proposal is to blacklist additional Russian figures from the EU.
“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. A senior European official said no decision is expected in preliminary discussions in Brussels on these new sanctions.
At the same time, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces, Admiral Tony Radakin, stated in a television interview broadcast by the BBC that 50,000 people of the Russian army were killed and wounded, and his forces lost thousands of armored vehicles, i.e. “more than 30% of their effectiveness in ground combat.” “. Radakin explained that the invasion of Ukraine “resulted in the death or injury of 50,000 Russian soldiers and the destruction of almost 1,700 Russian tanks, as well as about 4,000 armored vehicles.” And he realized: “But Russia is still a nuclear power” and is able to continue its military campaign, given that speculation about the illness of Russian President Vladimir Putin or the possibility of his assassination is just “desirable thoughts”.
In early July, Putin warned that Moscow “has not yet begun serious business” in Ukraine, and last week Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu instructed to step up “military pressure.” Three days after rocket strikes devastated the city center of Venice, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines, and killed at least 24 people, including children, in attacks that drew European Union condemnation for “barbaric behaviour,” fighting all are still ongoing. . And on Saturday evening, Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city close to the Russian border, came under rocket attack. “At about three in the morning in the Kievsky district, as a result of two rocket attacks, one of the floors of a five-story industrial building caught fire. A 59-year-old woman was injured, she was hospitalized. “, – said the governor Oleg Senegubov.
“heavy bombardment”
Other strikes were carried out against the city of Nikolaev in the southern Black Sea. “At about three o’clock in the morning, Nikolaev was subjected to heavy shelling. We were informed about a fire that broke out at two industrial enterprises,” said the regional governor Vitaly Kim. He added that the cities of Shevchenkov, Zarya and Novorossiy were bombed the day before, noting that “three people were killed in Shevchenkov, three more were injured,” and on Saturday, an explosion in Shirokov, where “a residential building, a woman died”, killed a woman. was destroyed.”
In the Donetsk region (east), the region’s governor, Pavel Kirilenko, said it was also targeted by “Russians (who) continue to shell civilian infrastructure, especially educational institutions.” He explained that “three rockets hit the city of Toritsk: one hit a residential area, two fell in Zalezina, where a school and a kindergarten were damaged. In Konstantinovka, the Russians bombed the medical college, information about the victims at the moment. Pro-Russian separatists, who have controlled the region since 2014, have accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the Donetsk region with 60 Grad missiles from launchers. The separatists confirmed that “residential buildings were damaged” as a result of the bombing, and published photos of the destroyed buildings with reference to the victims.
Thousands dead
The war in Ukraine is in its sixth month on July 24, and the total number of civilian casualties is still unknown. In Warsaw, about two thousand Ukrainian and Polish demonstrators gathered on Sunday afternoon in front of the Russian embassy to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They chanted slogans including “Enough of the Dead”, calling for tougher sanctions against the Kremlin and accusing its leaders of wanting to starve out many countries by blocking Ukraine’s grain exports.
The United Nations has estimated about five thousand dead, including more than 300 children, noting that the real number is undoubtedly much higher. In the city of Mariupol (southeast), which fell in May after a terrible siege, Ukrainian authorities indicated that about 20,000 people had been killed.
Sources in Western intelligence agencies said that between 15,000 and 20,000 Russian soldiers died, while Kyiv reported the death of 10,000 of its own troops. On the other hand, Russian journalist Marina Ovsinikova, who rose to prominence after storming a live TV broadcast condemning the war in Ukraine, was arrested Sunday in Russia, according to her lawyer and those close to her. The reasons for this arrest were not made public immediately, but days after Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone outside the Kremlin, waving a banner criticizing the military intervention in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.