Zelenskyy fires top commanders in Donbass

No justification for the move was given in the decree released by Ukraine’s Presidential Chancellery. According to President Selenskyj, Ukraine wants to bring back all parts of the country occupied by Russia – including Crimea – into the state federation.

Zelenskyy emphasized this on Sunday on the anniversary of the occupation of the Black Sea Peninsula by Russian troops. “In 2014, Russian aggression began with the capture of Crimea,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Sunday. “It is logical that with the liberation of Crimea, we will mark a historic end to all Russia’s attempts to ruin the lives of Ukrainians and all the peoples of Europe and Asia, whom the Kremlin once claimed to subjugate.”

Zelenskyy only mentioned Moskalyov in his daily video address on Friday, when he listed the commanders with whom he had spoken about the military situation. Moskalyov took command of the combined forces in March 2022, a few days after the start of the Russian war of aggression.

Commander is seen as the mastermind behind the defeat

According to the military, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, wants to visit the embattled Bakhmut to boost the morale of the armed forces and to discuss further strategy. “He listened to the unit commanders about urgent problems, helped to solve them and supported the soldiers,” the ground forces said on Telegram. The experienced commander is considered to be the mastermind behind the defeat of Russian forces at the beginning of the war before Kiev and in the Kharkiv region in September.

The Russian military is currently concentrating its attacks on the front in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. The focus is on the strategically important city of Bachmut, which has been fought over for weeks with both sides suffering heavy losses. Only on Saturday did the Russian mercenary group Wagner announce the capture of a suburb of Bakhmut, which is around two kilometers from the city center. Zelenskyj has been showing for weeks that he is dissatisfied with the situation at the front. He has repeatedly described the situation as difficult and painful.

risk of nuclear catastrophe

According to Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev, the continued supply of arms to Ukraine carries the risk of a global nuclear catastrophe. “Of course, the pumping in of weapons…can continue and prevent any possibility of resuming negotiations,” the deputy chairman of the National Security Council told the pro-government daily Izvestia. “Our enemies are doing just that, ignoring the fact that their goals will surely lead to a total fiasco. A loss for all. A collapse. Apocalypse. Where for centuries one forgets one’s past life, until the debris ceases to radiate.”

A Russian military aircraft of the type A-50 was damaged in a drone attack at an airfield near the capital Minsk, according to Belarusian partisans and members of the exile opposition. “They were drones. The participants in the operation are Belarusians,” the Polish broadcaster “Belsat” quoted a statement by the head of the Belarusian anti-government organization Bypol, Aliaksandr Azarau. “You are safe now, out of the country.” The front and center sections of the aircraft and the radar antenna were destroyed by two explosions during the attack on the Makhulishchi airbase. An advisor to opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya, who fled into exile, describes the attack on Twitter as the most successful act of sabotage since early 2022. Reuters was not immediately able to independently verify the reports. The defense ministries of Russia and Belarus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.