In a high-profile cabinet overhaul following corruption scandals and ahead of an anticipated Russian offensive, Ukraine is reportedly planning to replace defense minister Oleksii Reznikov with the head of its military spy agency.
David Arakhamia announced on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that Kyrylo Budanov, 37, head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, will take over Reznikov’s, 56, ministry position.
According to David Arakhamia, a senior lawmaker and head of Servant of the People parliamentary bloc, Reznikov will be moved to another ministerial position.
Reznikov’s reshuffle will be the highes profile government change in a slew of resignations and dismissals that have occurred as a result of the corruption scandal that broke late last month, and Zelenskyy promised that Ukraine will uphold Western norms for clean governance.
‘Restoring power systems’
Repair crews are working round the clock to restore power systems in the Black Sea port of Odesa after a fire left hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
“The situation at this time is that hundreds of thousands of people in Odesa region are without power,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
He said such disruptions in Ukrainian cities “could not have happened” before the onset of Russian attacks on power generation sites over several weeks, some of which involved dozens of missiles at a time.
2024 Olympic Sponsors
Ukraine has sent letters to companies that back the International Olympic Committee, urging them to keep Russian athletes out of the Paris Olympic Games, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy has been spearheading a drive to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the games under a neutral flag. The Ukraine president has said their presence would normalise Russia’s invasion of his country and make “terror” acceptable.
“Ukraine has sent appropriate letters to the companies that provide the biggest support for the International Olympic Committee,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
