Ukraine war: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expands security services shakeup, suspends 28 more officers
FirstpostZelenskyy had fired SBU chief Ivan Bakanov and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova. Zelenskyy, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings into treason and collaboration by people within their departments and other law enforcement agencies Kyiv, Ukraine: As Russia kept up its relentless shelling across the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expanded the shakeup of his security services on Monday by suspending 28 more officials, a day after he dismissed two senior officials over allegations that their agencies harbored “collaborators and traitors.” In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said a “personnel audit” of the Security Service of Ukraine was underway, and the dismissal of the 28 officials was being decided. “Six months into the war, we continue to uncover loads of these people in each of these agencies,” said Andriy Smirnov, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office. Ukraine’s Emergency Service said at least six people were killed by Russian shelling Monday targeting the city of Toretsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman said that “incrementally, there’s been a little bit more progress” on a proposed UN package deal that would enable millions of tons of Ukraine’s grain to be shipped from the Black Sea, and Russian grain and fertilizer to be sent to world markets without restrictions.