🔴 Live: Volodymyr Zelensky to replace Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov

Issued on: 04/09/2023 – 04:23

4 min

6:56am: Ukraine forces down 17 drones in Odesa region, strikes damage buildings, govenor says

Ukrainian forces downed 17 Russian drones over the southern Odesa region, the local governor said Monday, adding that strikes caused damage in a district on the Danube river that borders Romania.

“17 drones were shot down by our air defense forces,” Oleg Kiper wrote on Telegram. “But, unfortunately, there are also hits. In several settlements of Izmail district, warehouses and production buildings, agricultural machinery and equipment of industrial enterprises were damaged.”

6:36am: Ukraine to replace defence minister Reznikov following corruption allegations

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that defence minister Oleksii Reznikov will be replaced this week with Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar lawmaker.

Zelensky made the announcement on his official Telegram account, writing that new leadership was needed. Later in his nightly address, Zelensky said he believes “that the Ministry needs new approaches and different formats of interaction both with the military and with society”.

Resnikov’s removal comes after a scandal around the ministry of defence’s procurement of military jackets. In August, Ukrainian investigative journalists reported that the materials were purchased at a price three times higher than normal and that instead of winter jackets, summer ones were ordered.

In the customs documents from the supplier, the jackets were priced at $29 per unit, but the ministry of defence paid $86 per unit. Reznikov denied the allegations during a news conference last week.

Umerov, 41, a politician with the opposition Holos party, has served as head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine since September 2022. He was involved in the exchange of prisoners of war, political prisoners, children and civilians, as well as the evacuation of civilians from occupied territories and was part of the Ukrainian delegation in negotiations with Russia over the UN-backed grain deal.

FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze reports from Kyiv.

05:30am: Russia says destroyed 4 Ukrainian military boats carrying troops in Black Sea

Russia said on Monday it had destroyed four Ukrainian military boats carrying troops in the Black Sea.

“During the night of September 4, 2023, in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, naval aviation aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed 4 “Willard Sea Force” US-made high-speed military boats with landing groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, traveling in the direction of Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean coast,” Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram.

02:18am: Russia strikes Ukraine grain exporting port ahead of Putin-Erdogan talks

Russia launched an overnight air attack on one of Ukraine’s major grain exporting ports, Ukrainian officials said, hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, are due to hold talks.

Ukraine’s air force urged residents of Izmail port, one of Ukraine’s two major grain-exporting ports on the Danube River in the Odesa region, to seek shelter after midnight on Monday.

Some Ukraine media reported the sound of blasts in the area.

Putin and Erdogan is to meet on Monday 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.

01:04am: Russia says downs two Ukraine-launched drones over Kursk region

Russia’s air defence systems shot down two Ukraine-launched drones over the Kursk region, Russia’s defence ministry said early on Monday on its Telegram messaging app.

The Kursk region, in Russia’s south, borders Ukraine to its west.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

• Key developments from Sunday, September 3:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Sunday, discussing the “functioning” of a Black Sea corridor set up by Kyiv for the safe navigation of ships after Moscow exited a landmark grain deal. The news comes after Romania’s defence ministry strongly condemned repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Danube River infrastructure close to its border.

Zelensky dismissed Kyiv’s defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov, and nominated Crimean Tatar politician Rustem Umerov to replace him as Kyiv’s defence minister, in a surprise move as the war with Russia enters its 19th month. 

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)