Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy continued to clean house on Saturday despite Russia bombing the country, carrying out 75 airstrikes in just 24 hours.
President Zelenskiy expelled two key officials: his chief aide Serhiy Shefir, the head of the soldiers’ rights office Alyona Verbitka, and four other government officials.
The reason for the expulsion has not been disclosed, but Kiev Independent report.
The changes come a day after President Zelenskyy fired Andriy Smirnov and Oleksiy Dniprov as deputy chiefs, and are the latest in a series of changes Zelenskyy has made at top military and government positions in recent months. Becomes the property of
Mr. Shefir was appointed as an advisor to Mr. Zelenskiy shortly after he became president in May 2019. A personal friend of Mr. Zelensky, he worked as a producer on the comedy series “Servant of the People,” which made Mr. Zelensky famous, in which he played Mr. Zelensky. He rose from a high school history teacher to a top politician in Ukraine.
In 2021, Shefir survived an assassination attempt allegedly orchestrated by the Kremlin.
President Zelenskiy also fired Natalia Pushkalyova, the president’s external commissioner for volunteer work, and three non-presidential advisers, including Ukrainian entrepreneur Mykhailo Radutsky and economist Oleh Ustensko. did.
President Zelenskiy on Tuesday replaced Oleksiy Danilov, head of the National Security and Defense Council, with Oleksandr Litvinenko, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.
The wartime leader fired all of the country’s military recruitment chiefs in August over corruption allegations, following a move in September to remove the defense minister amid a crackdown on corruption.
Since Friday, Russia has also fired 38 missiles into Ukraine and carried out 98 rocket launcher attacks.
In other developments:
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that Europe has entered a “pre-war era” and called on European countries to increase their defense budgets. “I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept of the past,” Tusk told reporters. “This is true and started over two years ago.”
- More than 100,000 people in eastern Kharkiv remain without power last week following recent targeted attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. in a statementUkrainian energy provider DTEK said 15 missiles destroyed a thermal power plant and damaged numerous substations.
- Despite claims of responsibility by an ISIS splinter, Russian authorities are still trying to link Ukraine to the Moscow concert hall attack. In Moscow’s latest attempt, Russia claimed that four of the gunmen were captured as they tried to flee to Kiev in search of a “reward.” Ukraine denies any involvement. Meanwhile, American intelligence confirmed claims by the Islamic State’s Afghan wing that it organized the March 22 attack that killed 137 people.
- Just in time for Easter in Ukraine Pravda newspaper reported. The World Russian People’s Council adopted a “decree” characterizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war” and asserting that “the entire territory of present-day Ukraine should be included in the sphere of exclusive Russian influence.” did.of It is also stated in the government ordinance Russian soldiers protect the “unified spiritual space” and the world from “the tyranny of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into satanism.”
