Not only heroes, but also traitors are born

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky fired the Deputy Head of the Security Service (SBU). Volodymyr Gorbenko.

Zelensky’s website also published decrees on the appointment of new heads of the Security Council department in Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zakarpattia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Earlier, Zelensky dismissed Irina Venediktova as the Prosecutor General and Ivan Bakanov as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine He asked the Verkhovna Rada to fire the two top officials over a loss of trust.

The President earlier said that there was “rampant” treason in the SBU and General Prosecutor’s Office relating to the conflict with Russia. More than 650 criminal cases have been launched against the employees of the two agencies.

The head of state explained that since the beginning of the full-scale war, about 60 prosecutors and employees of the SBU turned out to be traitors. They stayed in the occupied territories and started working for the Russians. The Office of the President added that the last straw was the exposure of the head of the SBU in Crimea Oleg Kulinich for high treason. In April, Zelensky deranked Andriy Naumov, a former Ukrainian general, ex-head of the Internal Security Department of the Security Service of Ukraine, who left Ukraine several hours before the invasion of Russia, but was later arrested in Serbia with a large undeclared sum on him.

The US State Department is “carefully” monitoring situation after Zelensky announced plans to suspend officials, said the Department’s spokesperson Ned Price.

“We’re aware of the reports, and we’ll continue to carefully monitor the situation. We are in daily contact with our Ukrainian partners,” Price said. The State Department is “leaning forward in terms of the information” they are sharing with Ukrainian partners to “help them build the case for accountability against those who may have perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities,” Price added.

Ukrainians switch over to NATO standards

The first 28 M1A2 Abrams tanks for the Polish army arrived in Poland. They will be used to train Polish soldiers, said Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak.

Ukraine will crush Russia’s Black Sea fleet and regain control of Crimea with Western weapons, the country’s Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Gavrilov vowed during a visit to the UK. Kyiv was waiting to get longer-range weapons from foreign nations before launching an assault, he added.

Gavrilov also didn’t rule out the use of diplomatic means in order to reclaim Crimea. “Russia will have to leave Crimea if they wish to exist as a country,” Gavrilov insisted.

Neither Nord Stream 1 nor Nord Stream II

The European Commission is planning for all scenarios regarding gas flows to Europe through Russia’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline, including the possibility that deliveries do not restart on Thursday when maintenance on the pipeline is due to end. “We are working on every possible scenario,” a spokesperson for the EU said

The IMF warned that a complete halt in Russian gas supplies will lead to recession in some of the EU countries. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be the worst hit, while Italy, Germany and Austria will experience constraints.

At the same time, Reuters reported that after a ten-day break, Gazprom would restart to supply the same limited volume of gas as before the maintenance works.

Ukrainians definitely win information war

Foreign experts referred to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s order to prepare a plan for regaining the southern territories.

“If you intend to launch an attack, you will not tell Russians about this. You will want to take them by surprise and to attack the positions before they gather together the whole military force” said Charles A. Kupchan is a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations of the UK. He considers such a statement can be primarily intended for the Ukrainians and the international community.

“Since the very beginning, Zelensky and the Ukrainian authorities have shown skillfulness in the information war,” said Max Hoffman, senior director of National Security and International Policy at American Progress. “They balance between showing their desperate need for Western aid and maintaining of the hope that they can win this war among the Ukrainian population,” Hoffman told DW.

Criminals says stealing is called “nationalization”

The advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, Petr Andryushchenko, said that by the “decision” of the occupying “authorities”, the citizens of Ukraine are deprived of the right to own real estate in Mariupol.

He appealed to the residents of Mariupol, who will move into apartments. “This decision is not worth the paper on which it could be printed if the occupiers had paper. It is absolutely illegal. Therefore, if you have already moved in, take care of someone else’s property, otherwise you will be liable under the law,” the mayor’s adviser urged.