Ukraine S Zelensky Sacked Security Chief And Prosecutor

VINYTSYA, Ukraine (AP) – As Russian troops pressed their offensive in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his state security chief and attorney general on Sunday, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings for treason and collaboration of people inside their departments and other law enforcement authorities.  agencies.
“In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the SBU (state security service) have remained in the occupied territories and are working against our state,” Zelensky said.
“Such a series of crimes against the foundations of the state’s national security and the links documented between Ukrainian security forces and Russian special services raise very serious questions for their respective leaders,” he said in his nightly video address to the nation.
Zelensky fired Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend and former business associate whom he had appointed to head the SBU.  Bakanov had come under increasing criticism for security breaches since the war began.  Last month, Politico cited multiple unidentified Ukrainian and Western sources as saying that Zelensky was looking to replace him.
He also fired Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and replaced her with her deputy Oleksiy Symonenko.  Benediktova helped lead war crimes investigations.
Meanwhile, Russian missiles hit industrial facilities earlier Sunday in Mykolaiv, a key shipbuilding center in southern Ukraine.  Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said the missiles hit an industrial facility and an infrastructure facility.  Mykolaiv has come under regular Russian missile strikes in recent weeks as the Russians have sought to weaken Ukrainian defenses.
The Russian military has stated its goal to cut off the entire Black Sea coast of Ukraine all the way to the Romanian border.  If successful, such an effort would deal a crushing blow to the Ukrainian economy and trade and allow Moscow to secure a land bridge to Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, which is home to a Russian military base.
Early in the campaign, Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attempts to capture Mykolaiv, which lies near the Black Sea coast between Russian-held Crimea and the main Ukrainian port of Odessa.  Since then, Russian troops have stopped their attempts to advance on the city, but have continued to hit both Mykolayiv and Odessa with regular rocket attacks.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that Russian missiles destroyed a cache of Harpoon anti-ship missiles delivered to Ukraine by NATO allies, a claim that could not be independently confirmed.
The Russians, fearing a Ukrainian counterattack, also tried to strengthen their positions in the Kherson region near Crimea and in part of the northern Zaporizhzhia region that they captured in the first stage of the war.
“Given the pressures on Russian manpower, the reinforcement of the south, while the fight for Donbas continues, shows the seriousness with which Russian commanders take the threat,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.
For now, the Russian military is focused on trying to take control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas, where the most capable and well-equipped Ukrainian forces are located.
Ukraine says its forces still maintain control of two small villages in Luhansk region, one of the two provinces that make up Donbas, and are repelling Russian efforts to push deeper into the second, Donetsk region.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops had repelled Russian attempts to advance on Sloviansk, the main Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk, and attacks elsewhere in the region.
However, Russian officials are urging their troops to make even more territorial gains.  During a visit to the front lines on Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an order to “further intensify the actions of units in all operational areas.”
The Russian military said it hit Ukrainian troops and artillery positions in the Donbass in the latest series of raids, including a US-supplied HIMARS multiple-missile launcher.  The Russian claims could not be independently verified.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, responded to Ukrainian officials’ claims that Kyiv could strike the bridge linking Crimea with Russia, warning that it would have devastating consequences for the Ukrainian leadership .
“They will face Judgment Day momentarily,” Medvedev said on Sunday.  “It would be very difficult for them to hide.”
Medvedev, once touted by the West as more liberal than Putin, has said Russia will press its offensive until it fulfills its stated goal of “depriving” and “demilitarizing” Ukraine.  He predicted that the fighting “will undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the existing regime” in Kyiv.
Zelensky condemned Medvedev’s comment as “bullying” and said it is Russia that will eventually face a “Day of Judgment”.
“And not figuratively, not as strong words, but literally,” he said on Sunday.
While focusing on Donbas, the Russians have hit areas across the country with missile attacks.
In central Ukraine, relatives and friends attended a funeral Sunday for Liza Dmytrieva, a 4-year-old girl who was killed Thursday in a Russian missile attack.  The girl with Down syndrome was on her way to see a speech therapist with her mother when the rockets hit the town of Vinnytsia.  At least 24 people were killed, including Lisa and two boys, aged 7 and 8.  More than 200 others were injured, including Lisa’s mother, who remains in intensive care.
“I didn’t know Liza, but no one can go through this in peace,” said priest Vitalii Holoskevych, breaking into tears as Liza’s body lay in a coffin with flowers and teddy bears in the 18th-century Transfiguration Cathedral in Vinnytsia .
“We know that evil cannot win,” he added.
In the Kharkiv region, at least three civilians were killed and three others wounded Saturday in a pre-dawn Russian strike in the town of Chuhuiv, just 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Russian border, police said.
A resident of the apartment building that was hit said she was lucky to survive.
“I was going to run and hide in the bathroom.  I didn’t make it and that saved me,” said Valentina Busuyeva.  Pointing to her damaged apartment, she said: ‘There’s the bathroom – explosion.  Kitchen – half a room.  And I survived because I stayed put.”
Anna reported from Pokrovsk, Ukraine.

title: “Ukraine S Zelensky Sacked Security Chief And Prosecutor " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-20” author: “Don Cameron”

VINYTSYA, Ukraine (AP) – As Russian troops pressed their offensive in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his state security chief and attorney general on Sunday, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings for treason and collaboration of people inside their departments and other law enforcement authorities.  agencies.
“In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the SBU (state security service) have remained in the occupied territories and are working against our state,” Zelensky said.
“Such a series of crimes against the foundations of the state’s national security and the links documented between Ukrainian security forces and Russian special services raise very serious questions for their respective leaders,” he said in his nightly video address to the nation.
Zelensky fired Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend and former business associate whom he had appointed to head the SBU.  Bakanov had come under increasing criticism for security breaches since the war began.  Last month, Politico cited multiple unidentified Ukrainian and Western sources as saying that Zelensky was looking to replace him.
He also fired Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and replaced her with her deputy Oleksiy Symonenko.  Benediktova helped lead war crimes investigations.
Meanwhile, Russian missiles hit industrial facilities earlier Sunday in Mykolaiv, a key shipbuilding center in southern Ukraine.  Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said the missiles hit an industrial facility and an infrastructure facility.  Mykolaiv has come under regular Russian missile strikes in recent weeks as the Russians have sought to weaken Ukrainian defenses.
The Russian military has stated its goal to cut off the entire Black Sea coast of Ukraine all the way to the Romanian border.  If successful, such an effort would deal a crushing blow to the Ukrainian economy and trade and allow Moscow to secure a land bridge to Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, which is home to a Russian military base.
Early in the campaign, Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attempts to capture Mykolaiv, which lies near the Black Sea coast between Russian-held Crimea and the main Ukrainian port of Odessa.  Since then, Russian troops have stopped their attempts to advance on the city, but have continued to hit both Mykolayiv and Odesa with regular rocket attacks.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that Russian missiles destroyed a cache of Harpoon anti-ship missiles delivered to Ukraine by NATO allies, a claim that could not be independently confirmed.
The Russians, fearing a Ukrainian counterattack, also tried to strengthen their positions in the Kherson region near Crimea and in part of the northern Zaporizhzhia region that they captured in the first stage of the war.
“Given the pressures on Russian manpower, the reinforcement of the south, while the fight for Donbas continues, shows the seriousness with which Russian commanders take the threat,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.
For now, the Russian military is focused on trying to take control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, the Donbas, where the most capable and well-equipped Ukrainian forces are located.
Ukraine says its forces still maintain control of two small villages in Luhansk region, one of the two provinces that make up Donbas, and are repelling Russian efforts to push deeper into the second, Donetsk region.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops had repelled Russian attempts to advance on Sloviansk, the main Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk, and attacks elsewhere in the region.
However, Russian officials are urging their troops to make even more territorial gains.  During a visit to the front lines on Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an order to “further intensify the actions of units in all operational areas.”
The Russian military said it hit Ukrainian troops and artillery positions in the Donbass in the latest series of raids, including a US-supplied HIMARS multiple-missile launcher.  The Russian claims could not be independently verified.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, responded to Ukrainian officials’ claims that Kyiv could strike the bridge linking Crimea with Russia, warning that it would have devastating consequences for the Ukrainian leadership .
“They will face Judgment Day momentarily,” Medvedev said on Sunday.  “It would be very difficult for them to hide.”
Medvedev, once touted by the West as more liberal than Putin, has said Russia will press its offensive until it fulfills its stated goal of “depriving” and “demilitarizing” Ukraine.  He predicted that the fighting “will undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the existing regime” in Kyiv.
Zelensky condemned Medvedev’s comment as “bullying” and said it is Russia that will eventually face a “Day of Judgment”.
“And not figuratively, not as strong words, but literally,” he said on Sunday.
While focusing on Donbas, the Russians have hit areas across the country with missile attacks.
In central Ukraine, relatives and friends attended a funeral Sunday for Liza Dmytrieva, a 4-year-old girl who was killed Thursday in a Russian missile attack.  The girl with Down syndrome was on her way to see a speech therapist with her mother when the rockets hit the town of Vinnytsia.  At least 24 people were killed, including Lisa and two boys, aged 7 and 8.  More than 200 others were injured, including Lisa’s mother, who remains in intensive care.
“I didn’t know Liza, but no one can go through this in peace,” said priest Vitalii Holoskevych, breaking into tears as Liza’s body lay in a coffin with flowers and teddy bears in the 18th-century Transfiguration Cathedral in Vinnytsia .
“We know that evil cannot win,” he added.
In the Kharkiv region, at least three civilians were killed and three others wounded Saturday in a pre-dawn Russian strike in the town of Chuhuiv, just 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Russian border, police said.
A resident of the apartment building that was hit said she was lucky to survive.
“I was going to run and hide in the bathroom.  I didn’t make it and that saved me,” said Valentina Busuyeva.  Pointing to her damaged apartment, she said: ‘There’s the bathroom – explosion.  Kitchen – half a room.  And I survived because I stayed put.”
Anna reported from Pokrovsk, Ukraine.