Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in his evening speech that he wants to replace Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. In his place Rustem Umerov. “I have decided to replace the Defense Minister of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov experienced more than 550 days of great war. I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and other forms of interaction with both the military and society. That’s what Rustem Umerov should do now.” “Head of the Ministry. The Verkhovna Rada knows him well and Umerov needs no further introduction. I expect the parliament to support this candidate,” Zelensky concluded. Reznikov had been accused of being involved in a corruption case involving overspending on military supplies and had already resigned several days ago. Now he could be reinstated as ambassador to the United Kingdom. Reznikov had always denied the corruption allegations, although, according to an investigation by several Ukrainian media outlets, in the fall of 2022 the Defense Ministry signed a contract with a Turkish company for the supply of winter uniforms, the price of which was later set to triple the signature. He will be replaced by the head of the State Property Fund Rustem Umerov.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is progressing slowly and with some difficulties. Especially in the south, where there are now numerous confirmations that Kiev’s troops have broken through the first Russian defenses at Zaporizhzhia and are now advancing towards Moscow’s second lines. Wounded but not defeated, Russia continues to target Ukrainian ports from which grain shipments depart. The Russian army said it attacked the Reni Army on the Danube in the Odessa region, not only on the border with Moldova but also with Romania, a NATO country. From Bucharest they say they consider the raids “unjustified”, while Moldovan President Maia Sandu condemned the “brutal” attack and called for Moscow to be held “accountable for any infrastructure destroyed”. According to many analysts, the Kremlin would have been surprised by Kiev’s successes on the southern front, also because the real obstacle to the advance south was the front line, which was fortified with minefields and anti-tank ditches. For the commander of the Tavria Operational and Strategic Forces Group, Alexander Tarnavsky, Russia invested 60% of its time and resources in building the first line of defense and only 20% each in building the second and third lines. With the attacks in Odessa, the Kremlin is keeping the tension high on the eve of the meeting planned in Sochi between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The focus of the meeting was a possible revival of the pact that had allowed the safe export of Ukrainian wheat. Russia paused it in mid-July and tied its extension to the implementation of the memorandum between Moscow and the United Nations to remove all obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizers caused by the sanctions. Despite the attacks on the Odessa hubs that have sent hundreds of thousands of tons of grain up in smoke since the beginning, Ukraine has still been working on alternative routes to transport its grain. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron about “specific issues of security in the Black Sea” and about the “grain corridor that should be expanded.” Yesterday, Zelensky himself reported that two more ships are using the new “humanitarian corridor” announced by Kiev in early August as a temporary solution, bringing the total number of boats to four. The first to take this new route was the Hong Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte, which left the port of Odessa on August 16 and arrived at the port of Cagliari on September 2. However, as the Russian attacks show, the risk remains high. On the Danube, Moscow claims to have hit “fuel depots to supply military equipment,” while Kiev speaks of attacks on “civilian industrial infrastructure.” Also in the Odessa region this evening, Kiev intercepted 22 of the 25 Shahed drones fired by the Russians. The remaining three hit the target and injured two civilians and caused a fire in the port of Reni. According to Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office, the Russians’ hope is “to create a food crisis and famine in the world.” Since the closure of the grain corridor for grain exports, the river ports on Europe’s longest river have become central, especially those of Izmail, Reni and Ust-Danube. And for this reason they are being targeted by the Russian armed forces. But tensions also remain high on the Black Sea, where Russian forces have stationed a ship with eight Kalibr missiles in combat mode. The ship is said to be a corvette equipped with artillery and missiles and is part of the Russian Buyan-M project. However, Ukrainian naval aviation destroyed the Moscow boat KS-701 Tunets in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, killing six soldiers and wounding two others.
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