Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the head of the state guards on Thursday, two days after two of its members were accused of plotting to assassinate the president.
Zelenskyy issued a decree dismissing Serhiy Rud. No successor was identified.
Near Marinka, one of Donetsk’s devastated towns, soldiers with Ukraine’s 148th separate artillery brigade fire an M777 howitzer toward Russian positions — and get little rest.
“Sometimes we sleep 5-6 hours a day in total, sometimes we get up and shoot every hour,” says one of the soldiers, whose call sign is “Odesa.”
Even so, the Russians keep coming. “They are advancing and every day, little by little, but successfully,” he says.
In other developments:
— Ukraine’s Parliament has approved a bill that offers parole for convicts who enlist for military service, as the country seeks to replenish its depleted ranks. The bill approved Wednesday covers only certain categories of convicts. It will be subject to further discussion in Parliament before going to the president who decides whether to sign it into law. Russia has also used prisoners to make up a manpower shortage.
— Meanwhile, Zelenskyy formally appointed Ukraine’s former army chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the country’s ambassador to Britain. Zelenskyy replaced Zaluzhnyi in February in an apparent effort to give new momentum to Ukraine’s fight.
— Also, the governor of Russia’s Bashkortostan region said a drone strike in the city of Salavat caused a fire at a petrochemical facility. Salavat lies about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from the nearest point of the Ukraine border, making it possibly the deepest Ukrainian strike yet into Russia. Kyiv officials made no comment about the strike.
With additional files from the Associated Press
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