Ukraine-Russia war live: Zelensky sacks defence minister as Putin strikes grain port

Jump to content Sign up to our newsletters Subscribe News Sports Voices Culture Lifestyle Travel Premium Close Pskov Airfield: Sky glows orange during largest drone strike on Russian territory since war began Volodymyr Zelensky said he has decided to dismiss his war-time defence minister Oleksii Reznikov and would ask parliament this week to replace him with Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’ s main privatisation fund. ‘I’ve decided to replace the Minister of Defence of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov has been through more than 550 days of full-scale war,’ he said, adding that he ‘believes the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society as a whole’. The exit of lawyer-turned-politician Reznikov marks the biggest shakeup of Ukraine’s defence establishment during the war launched by Russia in February 2022. While he secured billions of dollars of Western military aid to help the war effort, Reznikov has been dogged by graft allegations surrounding his ministry that he described as smears. This comes as Russia launched a major drone strike on Ukraine’s grain exporting port in Odesa region this morning. The three and a half hour long drone assault damaged warehouses and set buildings on fire just hours before Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, were due to hold talks on the halted grain deal. 1693798685 Volodymyr Zelensky has said time has come for Ukraine for new changes, which will involve exit of Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister since November 2021. The 57-year-old former lawyer turned defence minister has helped secure billions of dollars of Western military aid to help the war effort, but has been dogged by graft allegations surrounding his ministry that he has described as smears. In the continuing war, Mr Reznikov’s defence ministry lobbied the West to overcome taboos on supplying powerful military gear to Ukraine, including German-made main battle tanks and HIMARS rocket artillery. And after much bidding and pushing, Kyiv now looks poised to receive US-made F-16 fighter jets soon. An English-speaker, Mr Reznikov is seen as having built up a strong rapport with allied defence ministers and military officials. One member of parliament has tipped him as Ukraine’s possible new ambassador to London. His apparent exit appears to bring an end to months of domestic media pressure that began in January when Mr Reznikov’s ministry was accused of buying food at inflated prices. Though he was not personally involved in the food contract, some Ukrainian commentators said he should take political responsibility for what happened. Last month, a Ukrainian media outlet accused his ministry of corruption during the procurement of winter coats for the army. He has denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly said he was being targeted by a smear campaign. Arpan Rai 4 September 2023 04:38 1693810407 Russian forces have fired around 32 kamikaze drones at Ukraine in Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts overnight, causing damage to industrial facilities and infrastructure. At least 23 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 drones were shot down by Ukraine’s military, the country’s Air Force said . The drones were launched from Cape Chauda in annexed Crimea and Russia’s port town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk on the Azov Sea coast, the Air Force said. Of these, Ukraine’s air defences downed 17 drones launched at Odesa oblast, but some hits were still reported in the region, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. The attack damaged warehouses, production facilities, agricultural machinery, and industrial equipment in several settlements of the Izmail district, he said. Drone debris fell on civilian sites, causing fires that have already been put out, the official added. No immediate casualties have been reported. Arpan Rai 4 September 2023 07:53 1693809932 A Russian cyber threat group has likely used a malware called ‘Infamous Chisel’ to steal sensitive military information from Ukrainian military, the British Ministry of Defence said today. It cited a report by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on a malware campaign targeting Android mobile devices used by the Ukrainian military. ‘The malware, referred to as ‘Infamous Chisel’, has been used by the Russian cyber threat group known as Sandworm. NCSC has previously attributed Sandworm to the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s (GRU) Main Centre for Special Technologies (GTsST),’ the ministry said in its latest intelligence update. It added that the malware Infamous Chisel enables ‘persistent access to, and the collation and exfiltration of data from, compromised Android devices’ and this includes targeting applications used by the Ukrainian military. ‘Infamous Chisel has highly likely been used with the aim of stealing sensitive military information. This activity demonstrates Russia’s continued use of cyber capabilities to support the invasion of Ukraine,’ the ministry said. Arpan Rai 4 September 2023 07:45 1693805914 Russia launched a major Ukraine grain exporting port this morning, damaging warehouses and setting buildings on fire, Ukraine said, hours before Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, were due to hold talks. The drone assault lasted three and a half hours on the Danube River port of Izmail, in Ukraine’s Odesa region. Regional governor said drone debris also set several civilian infrastructure buildings on fire, the governor of the Odesa region said. After quitting the Black Sea grain deal, Moscow has launched frequent attacks on the ports of the Danube River, which has since become Ukraine’s major route for exporting grain. About 17 drones were shot down, but some hit their targets in the broader Izmail area, governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. He added that according to preliminary reports, there were no casualties or injuries. The Russian president and his Turkish Putin and Erdogan are expected to meet today in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi as Ankara and the United Nations seek to revive a Ukraine grain export deal that helped ease a global food crisis. Ankara called the talks vital for the deal. Arpan Rai 4 September 2023 06:38 1693801066 Four US-made inflatable boats with Ukraine’s landing forces in the northwestern part of the Black Sea has been destroyed by Russia’s naval force, the Russian defence ministry said on its Telegram channel. The ministry said the US-made Willard Marine Sea Force inflatable boats were heading in the direction of Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean Peninsula. Military offensive and combat in the Black Sea waters has picked up in the recent weeks with Russia regularly claiming to strike Ukrainian forces. Kyiv has not issued a comment on the reports of growing offensive in its southern waters it shares with Russia. Arpan Rai 4 September 2023 05:17 1693800562 The first Russian crew to use hypersonic, air-launched Kinzhal missiles during Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine has been presented with state awards, the Russian TASS state news agency reported today. ‘The Su-34 aircraft used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile during the special military operation,’ TASS cited an unnamed military source as saying. ‘The first crew that successfully completed this task was presented with state awards.’ While Moscow has said very little so far about the Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, Ukraine’s military says Russia uses them frequently in the continuing invasion against civilian targets. TASS did not say when Russia used the Kinzhal missiles for the first time in Ukraine. The Russian defence ministry said in March that the missiles had been deployed to destroy Ukrainian targets, according to the ministry’s Telegram channel. The Kinzhal is one of six ‘next generation’ weapons unveiled by Vladimir Putin in a speech in March 2018. Arpan Rai 4 September 2023 05:09 1693799304 The Russian defence ministry has blamed Ukraine for launching drone attacks on the Kursk region of Russia overnight from yesterday to this morning. The ministry claimed its forces had shot down two drones after midnight today. Kursk region, bordering Ukraine to its west, saw attacked around 1am, the ministry said on its Telegram channel. Last evening, regional governor claimed debris from a downed drone sparked a fire at a non-residential building in the city of Kurchatov. The site of attack is about 4km from one of Russia’s biggest nuclear plants, but there were no reports the plant was affected or targeted. Arpan Rai 4 September 2023 04:48 1693792800 Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid. Vladimir Putin’s brutal military assault on sovereign neighbour continues in face of heavy losses and near-unanimous international condemnation Eleanor Noyce 4 September 2023 03:00 1693789200 Long-range strikes by drone and missile and a raid on territory in occupied Crimea that took Russian forces by surprise – all part of Kyiv’s recent push towards the peninsula that is a symbol of Vladimir Putin ‘s territorial ambitions. Perhaps most significant of all is the capture of the key village of Robotyne, about three hours drive east of Crimea. Gaining that foothold will help Ukraine build a foundation to punch through to the coastline of the Sea of Azov. Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Crimea as it looks to break key supply lines from the Russian-occupied peninsula, writes Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine: Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Crimea as it looks to break key supply lines from the Russian-occupied peninsula, writes Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine Eleanor Noyce 4 September 2023 02:00 1693785600 Russia has said that Moscow’s RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), nicknamed ‘Satan II’ – capable of carrying ten or more nuclear warheads – has been rolled out on ‘combat duty’. The head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said that the missiles had entered active duty, the state-run news agency RIA reported. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Sarmat missiles would be deployed for combat duty ‘soon’. Prior to that, defence committee deputy chairman Aleksey Zhuravlyov had used it as a threat when he was interviewed by state broadcaster TV Russia 1 in May regarding Sweden and Finland ‘s aspirations towards joining Nato in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined the alliance earlier this year, while Sweden is still waiting to be ratified. Vladimir Putin hasa repeatedly tried to talk up the specifications of the RS-28 Sarmat Eleanor Noyce 4 September 2023 01:00 Ukraine Kyiv Moscow Vladimir Putin Russia Ministry of Defence Volodymyr Zelensky Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in