MMore than 14 months after the war of aggression against Ukraine began, Russia’s deputy defense minister has been replaced. Colonel-General Alexei Kuzmenkov is now in charge of the army’s material and technical supply. He was previously the Deputy Director of the National Defense Force. This was announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense. He succeeds Mikhail Mizhintsev, who took over the post last September. In total, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has twelve representatives.
Russian bloggers had already reported Mizhintsev’s dismissal last week, citing power struggles within the Russian military as one reason. However, this was not officially confirmed at the time.
Infighting between the military and Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner, had been evident for months. After all, Prigozhin accuses the leadership in Moscow of having trouble supplying his fighters with ammunition — and recently threatened to withdraw them from the fiercely contested Ukrainian city of Bagmut.
All Improvements in Live Ticker:
16:05 – Russia reports troop advance in contested Pakmut
According to the Russian military, it is advancing on the city of Pakmut in eastern Ukraine, which has been fiercely fought for months. According to state news agency RIA, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced that the armed forces had captured four more blocks in the west of the city.
2:52 pm – Governor: Ukraine attack on Russian village kills four
Four people were killed in a Ukrainian rocket attack on a Russian village, according to the regional governor. Alexander Bogomas, the governor of the Bryansk region, said the rockets hit the village of Susemka, east of the border between the two countries. Two others were injured.
“Unfortunately, two civilians were killed as a result of the attack by Ukrainian nationalists,” Bogomas said in the morning on the online service Telegram. One residential building was completely destroyed, and two houses were partially damaged. The governor later reported that two more civilians were found in the rubble. “Unfortunately both are dead.”
2:38 pm – Russia Exchanges Deputy Defense Ministers
More than 14 months after the war of aggression against Ukraine began, Russia’s deputy defense minister has been replaced. Colonel-General Alexei Kuzmenkov is now in charge of the army’s material and technical supply. He was previously the Deputy Director of the National Defense Force. This was announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense. He succeeds Mikhail Mizhintsev, who took over the post last September. In total, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has twelve representatives.
Russian bloggers had already reported Mizhintsev’s dismissal last week, citing power struggles within the Russian military as one reason. However, this was not officially confirmed at the time.
Infighting between the military and Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner, had been evident for months. After all, Prigozhin accuses the leadership in Moscow of having trouble supplying his fighters with ammunition — and recently threatened to withdraw them from the fiercely contested Ukrainian city of Bagmut.
11:34 am – According to Ukraine, the fires in Crimea are part of “preparation for a counter-attack”.
According to the Ukrainian military, the drone attack on the Russian-annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea was in preparation for a planned counter-attack.
“The penetration of enemy logistics is one of the elements of preparation for powerful active operations of our defense forces, which we have been talking about for a long time,” said Natalya Humenyuk, press secretary of the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Army. Television. “This work prepares the large-scale attack that everyone has been waiting for.”
A fire broke out in Sevastopol, Crimea
What: AB
A large Russian fuel depot caught fire in Crimea’s port of Sevastopol early Saturday morning as a result of a drone strike. According to Russian sources, there were no dead or injured. Public property was also not damaged.
11.30 am – Current situation in Ukraine
Contested locations in eastern Ukraine
Source: Infographic World
10:00 am – Former Ambassador Melnyk considers China’s role as a mediator “not unrealistic.”
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk thinks China’s role as a mediator in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is conceivable. “It’s not unreal,” Funke, the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, told a media group.
“Of course, the Chinese are pursuing their own interests. But I believe that a fair, peaceful settlement and an end to hostilities is more in Beijing’s interests than this massive, endless earthquake for the entire world order,” Melnyk said.
Andriy Melnyk, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine
Source: dpa/Michael Kappeler
Referring to the Ukrainian president’s recent phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping – the first since the war began in more than 14 months – the diplomat said: “This is a big step towards strengthening our relations with China and curbing Russian aggression.”
Of course, China’s position may differ from Ukraine’s, Melnyk said. “For Kiev, the withdrawal of all Russian troops from the occupied territories is a big thing,” he stressed. After all, the devil is “in the details,” Melnyk said.
09:08 – Severe punishments in the Russian army
According to British intelligence services, Russian commanders in the war against Ukraine have significantly toughened penalties for violating troop discipline. The Ministry of Defense in London cited “numerous” reports by Russian fighters that soldiers would be kept in improvised cells for trying to complete a service contract or for minor offenses such as drunkenness. These are holes in the ground covered with a metal grid.
“In the early months of the war, many Russian commanders took a relatively lax approach to enforcing discipline, allowing those who refused to serve quietly to return home,” the London report said. “Since the fall of 2022, a number of serious efforts have been made to improve discipline in the force, especially since Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov took command in January 2023.”
12:45 am – Two killed in shelling on Russian border near Ukraine
Two people were killed in shelling in Ukraine’s western Russian border region of Bryansk, official sources said. This is what the governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomas, wrote in his Telegram channel. Also, Ukrainian forces destroyed a house and damaged two other houses in the village of Susemka. Russia, which launched a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine 14 months ago, has repeatedly complained of shelling on its own territory.
9:48 pm – Zelenskyj: “You are all terrorists and murderers”
A day after the deadly rocket attack on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky accused not only the Russian leadership but also the soldiers of war crimes. “Not just the commanders, all of you, all of you are terrorists and murderers, you all must be punished,” the 45-year-old said in his daily video address. Anyone who operates and launches rockets, maintains planes and ships for terrorism is complicit in the deaths of war, he said. Background on Friday’s rocket attack in Oman city that killed 23 people.
21:05 – Czech President Pavel visited Dnipro, Ukraine
On the second day of his visit to Ukraine, new Czech President Peter Pavel visited the central city of Dnipro. There he was briefed by accompanying journalists on the area’s reconstruction plans with local representatives. “We need to see this as an opportunity to work together, not unilateral aid,” the 61-year-old stressed. One thing they have in common is that both the Dnipropetrovsk Region and the Czech Republic have a strong industrial character. Dnipro is located approximately 400 kilometers southeast of the capital city of Kiev.
Peter Pavel (front right) during his visit to Dnipro
They are: dpa/Èapek Karel
In the city, Pavel visited the site where a Russian missile struck an apartment building in January. He condemned Russia’s “savage killing of civilians”. At least 45 people were killed in the attack.
4:58pm – Crimean fuel depot – Ukraine talks of “God’s punishment”.
According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian military suffered significant damage in an explosion and fire at a fuel depot in Sevastopol, a port city on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula. A Ukrainian military intelligence official told the RBC Ukraine news agency on Saturday that ten tanks with a capacity of about 40,000 tons had been destroyed. It fueled the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The Russian administration spoke about the drone strike. According to Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvojayev, only a drone can reach the oil depot. Another drone was shot down and its wreckage found near the terminal. He said no one was injured. He did not comment on the damage.
A Ukrainian intelligence official did not blame Ukraine for the bombing, but called Friday’s Russian rocket attack on apartments in the Ukrainian city of Uman “punishment from God.”
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