Zelensky said more than 60 officials from the SBU security service and the prosecutor’s office are working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territories, and 651 cases of treason and collaboration have been opened against law enforcement officials. The firings on Sunday of Ivan Bakanov, the head of the security service, and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who led efforts to prosecute Russian war crimes, and the huge number of treason cases reveal the enormous challenge of Russian infiltration as Kyiv battles Moscow in what he says is a fight for survival. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “Such a series of crimes against the foundations of national security of the state… raises very serious questions for the relevant leaders,” Zelensky said. “Each of these questions will receive a correct answer. In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky noted the recent arrest on suspicion of treason of the former head of the SBU who oversaw the Crimea region, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 and still regarded by Kyiv and the West as Ukrainian land. Zelensky said he fired the top security official at the beginning of the invasion, a decision he said has now been proven justified. “Sufficient evidence has been gathered to report this person as a suspect of treason. All his criminal activities are documented,” he said.
3,000 CRUISE CREWS
After failing to capture the capital Kyiv early in the invasion, Russian forces using a devastating bombing campaign now control large swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists already control territory. Zelensky said Russia has used more than 3,000 cruise missiles to date and that it is “impossible to count” the number of artillery and other strikes so far. Dozens of relatives and local residents attended the funeral Sunday of 4-year-old Liza Dmytrieva, one of 24 people killed in a Russian missile attack on the town of Vinnytsia last week. Western deliveries of long-range weapons are beginning to help Ukraine on the battlefield, with Kyiv reporting a series of successful raids on 30 Russian logistics and munitions hubs, using several newly-supplied multiple-launch missile systems. The strikes are wreaking havoc on Russian supply lines and have significantly reduced Russia’s offensive capability, according to Ukraine’s defense ministry. Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ivan Bakanov and Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova attend a news briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine May 11, 2021. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko read more Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command reported that in the Kherson region, it destroyed two Russian Pantsir missile systems, three strategic communication systems, a radar station, two ammunition depots and 11 armored and military vehicles on Sunday. The Russian military is also using radio-electronic warfare to suppress satellite communication channels, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement early Monday.
RUSSIA STEPS UP BUSINESS
Russia has ordered military units to step up operations to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian-held areas, according to Ukraine, which over the weekend reported shelling along the front line in what it said was preparation for a new offensive. Ukraine’s general staff said its forces repelled Russian attacks on several towns in the Donetsk region. “Fighting is currently continuing near Hryhorivka near the administrative regions between Luhansk and Donetsk,” it said. At least 10 explosions were reported overnight in the southern city of Mykolaiv, but there were no reports of casualties, while two people were killed and 10 wounded in Avdiivka and Novy Donbas, Ukraine’s general staff said, citing local officials. Reuters could not immediately verify the reports. The British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that Russia is strengthening defenses in areas it holds in southern Ukraine following pressure from Ukrainian forces and pledges by Ukrainian leaders to expel Russia. read more Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on February 24 as a “special military operation” to demilitarize the neighbor and rid it of dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and the West say it was an imperialist land grab and attempt to reclaim a country freed from Moscow’s rule with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II has killed more than 5,000 people, forced more than 6 million to flee Ukraine and left 8 million internally displaced, according to the United Nations. Ukraine and the West say Russian forces are targeting civilians and engaging in war crimes, charges Moscow denies. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Reuters offices. Written by Michael Perry. Edited by Lincoln Feast. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
