Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint briefing with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis before the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, which was destroyed by Russian shelling, in Odessa, Ukraine, March 6, 2024.
Ukrinform | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired a longtime adviser and several advisers on Saturday amid ongoing personnel changes, while Russia unleashed recent attacks overnight.
Zelensky dismissed chief adviser Serhiy Shefhir from the position of first assistant, which he had held since 2019. The President of Ukraine also dismissed three advisers and two presidential representatives overseeing volunteer activities and soldier’s rights.
No explanation was immediately given for the most recent changes resulting from extensive staff reshuffles which have taken place in recent months. This included the resignation on Tuesday of Oleksiy Danilov, who served as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and Valery Zaluzhny as chief of the armed forces on February 8. Zaluzhny was appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK earlier this month.
Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that Russia launched 12 Shahed drones overnight, nine of which were shot down, and fired 4 missiles toward eastern Ukraine.
Over the past 24 hours, Russia launched a salvo of 38 missiles, 75 airstrikes and 98 multiple-launcher attacks, Ukraine’s armed forces said in social media posts.
Two people were killed and one injured by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk province, the region’s governor, Vadym Filashkin, said on Saturday.
Ukrainian energy company Centrenergo announced on Saturday that the Zmiyiv Heat and Power Plant, certainly one of the most important thermal power plants within the eastern Kharkiv Oblast, was completely destroyed by Russian shelling last week. Power outage schedules remained in effect for about 120,000 residents within the region, where 700,000 people lost power after the plant was struck on March 22.
In recent days, Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing significant damage in several regions.
Officials within the Poltava Oblast reported on Saturday that there had been “several hits” on an infrastructure facility, but didn’t specify whether it was an energy facility.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Friday’s indiscriminate shelling of 99 drones and missiles that hit regions in Ukraine was revealed on Saturday, and local officials within the Kherson Oblast announced the death of 1 civilian on Saturday morning. According to the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, a resident of the Dnipropetrovsk region died in hospital as a results of gunshot wounds.
