Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made significant changes to his administration, dismissing a longtime aide and several advisers in a continuing reshuffle. This comes as Russia unleashed new attacks overnight, escalating the conflict.
Zelenskyy dismissed top aide Serhiy Shefir from his post of first assistant, where he had served since 2019. Additionally, the Ukrainian president let go of three advisers and two presidential representatives overseeing volunteer activities and soldiers’ rights.
No immediate explanation was given for the latest changes in a wide-reaching personnel shake-up over recent months. This included the dismissal of Oleksii Danilov, who served as secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, and Valerii Zaluzhnyi as head of the armed forces on February 8. Zaluzhnyi was appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom earlier this month.
Drones, and missiles fired across Ukraine
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 12 Shahed drones overnight, nine of which were shot down, and fired four missiles into eastern Ukraine. Russia unleashed a barrage of 38 missiles, 75 air raids, and 98 attacks from multiple rocket launchers over the last 24 hours, according to Ukraine’s armed forces.
Two people were killed and one wounded in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk province, regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Ukrainian energy company Centrenergo announced that the Zmiiv Thermal Power Plant, one of the largest thermal power plants in the eastern Kharkiv region, was completely destroyed following Russian shelling last week.
Power outage schedules were still in place for approximately 120,000 people in the region, where 700,000 people had lost electricity after the plant was hit on March 22. Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in recent days, causing significant damage in several regions.
Officials in the Poltava region said on Saturday that there had been “several hits” to an…
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