Zelensky fires head of military conscription in EVERY Ukraine region
Zelensky fires head of military conscription in EVERY region of Ukraine following corruption claims that may have seen men dodge the draft
- Kyiv has been conscripting for assault battalions for its counter-offensive
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today fired officials responsible for military conscription in each region of the country, citing corruption allegations that may have seen men dodge the draft.
Kyiv has been conscripting Ukrainians for assault battalions for its counter-offensive against Russian forces to recapture territory controlled by Moscow’s troops.
‘We are dismissing all regional military commissars,’ Zelensky said in a post on social media, following a meeting with senior military leadership.
‘This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery at a time of war is high treason,’ he added.
The move reflects Ukraine’s efforts to clamp down on graft and corruption as part of sweeping reforms requested by Western institutions like the European Union, which Ukraine hopes to join.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: ‘This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery at a time of war is high treason’
An aerial view of officials cleaning debris from a destroyed church after Russian strike in Zaporizhzia, Ukraine on August 10, 2023
‘During the inspection of the territorial recruitment centres, law enforcement agencies exposed cases of corruption,’ the presidency said in a separate statement.
It said Ukraine’s general mobilisation was a key area in which inspectors had uncovered instances of foul play.
These ‘pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security and undermine confidence in state institutions,’ the statement said.
It added that Ukraine’s security council recommended that the head of the army select replacements who have battlefield experience and were vetted by Ukraine’s intelligence services.
A view shows a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on August 10, 2023
A car destroyed in a Russian missile attack is seen in Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine. As reported, at 19.20 local time on August 10,2023
Russia on Friday claimed to have improved its fighting positions around the northeast Ukraine town of Kupiansk, as Kyiv’s troops struggle ahead with their counter-offensive in other areas.
Moscow also launched a volley of hypersonic missiles at western Ukraine in an attack that killed an eight-year-old boy in a part of the country that has largely been spared from attacks.
Kyiv said the strikes hit a house where a family with three children lived near the western town of Kolomiya.
Kupiansk and the surrounding areas of the northeast Kharkiv region were recaptured by Kyiv’s forces in September, but Moscow has since pushed back into the region, forcing Ukraine to order civilian evacuations.
A handout picture made available by the Rivne Region Prosecutor’s Office shows the aftermath of shelling by shock drones on an oil depot in the Rivne region, Western Ukraine, on August 10, 2023
Ukrainian soldiers shooting from a SPG-9 grenade launcher in the Serebrianskyi forest on Russian position near Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine on August 9, 2023
According to Moscow’s defence ministry, Russian units had ‘continued offensive operations on a wide front and improved the tactical situation’ in Vilshana and Pershotravneve to the east of Kupiansk.
The situation around Kupiansk was ‘difficult, given the power of the enemy group, but controlled’, said Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern forces.
Ukrainian officials in Kupiansk on Thursday urged residents in 37 settlements wedged between the town and Russian lines to evacuate the area.
READ MORE: Terrified kids cower and scream as Russian missiles destroy UN hotel just a few hundred yards away in second strike on Zaporizhzhia in just 24 hours – as the Kremlin claims it shot down Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow
Shocking footage showed the moment terrified children screamed as the rockets soared overhead and slammed into the Reikartz Hotel in the city centre
Residents could evacuate to Kharkiv, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) west, where they would have the option to move to safer regions, they said.
Russia’s drive in Kupiansk has sought to draw Ukrainian forces away from Kyiv’s own counter-offensive.
Ukraine launched its highly anticipated push in June after stockpiling Western weapons, but has struggled to make headway in the face of stiff Russian resistance.
On Friday Russia launched four Kinzhal hypersonic missiles at targets in western Ukraine, Kyiv’s air force said.
‘One Kh-47 missile was destroyed within Kyiv region,’ the air force said, while the rest were hit near the Kolomyia airfield in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
‘Civilian facilities and infrastructure were hit, and one of the missiles hit a residential area,’ it said.
On Thursday, a Russian strike in the city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least one and wounded 14, according to Ukrainian officials.
The United Nations said Thursday its staff and other organisations had frequently used the hotel hit by the strike.
The UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said in a statement she was ‘appalled’ by the incident and described attacks on civilian targets like the hotel as ‘inadmissable’.
The Russian defence ministry however said it had hit a temporary base for foreign mercenaries in the city.
‘In the area of the city of Zaporizhzhia, the point of temporary deployment of foreign mercenaries was hit,’ the defence ministry said in a statement.
It comes after two Russian missiles hit a civilian building housing a pizzeria popular with aid workers and journalists in the eastern town of Pokrovsk earlier this week.
Russia indicated the target of the strike was in fact a command post of the Ukrainian army in the east of the country.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions at the front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on August 9, 2023
A Ukrainian grad truck fires missiles against the Russian positions in the direction of Bakhmut amid Russia and Ukraine war in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on August 09, 2023
In Moscow, officials said they had destroyed a drone aimed at the capital, the latest in a string of attacks on the city in recent days.
The Ukrainian drone was destroyed over the western outskirts of the city, the defence ministry said.
‘An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle on a facility in Moscow was thwarted,’ the defence ministry said, adding there was no damage or casualties as a result of the incident.
Largely spared in the early part of the conflict, the capital has seen a surge in attacks in recent months.
On Thursday, Russia said it downed two drones headed for Moscow, a day after two others were destroyed on approach.
At the start of this month, an office block in the capital’s main business district of Moscow City was struck twice within days by debris from a downed drone strike.
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