Ukraine replaces defense minister amid escalating drone attacks and calls for new approaches to conflict with Russia.
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| Ukrainian soldiers launch a drone at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Source: AP) |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on September 3 that Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov would leave and called for "new approaches" as the conflict with Russia has dragged on for a year and a half.
The announcement came hours after Ukraine repelled a Russian drone attack in the southern Odessa region on September 3 targeting the Danube port on the border with Romania, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“Oleksiy Reznikov has spent more than 550 days in full-scale war. I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and other forms of interaction with both the military and society in general,” Zelensky said in his daily speech.
President Zelensky has nominated Rustem Umerov - who has been the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) since last year - to replace Reznikov, which requires the approval of the Ukrainian parliament.
News of Defense Minister Reznikov's replacement comes amid Kiev's counter-offensive and Ukraine's efforts to fight corruption in response to European Union (EU) demands.
* Update on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, on September 4, Russia announced that it had destroyed four Ukrainian military ships carrying soldiers in the Black Sea.
On Telegram , the Russian Defense Ministry said: "Naval aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed four US-made high-speed military vessels 'Willard Sea Force' carrying a landing group of Ukrainian Armed Forces... (The vessels) were moving towards Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean coast."
Earlier in the day, the ministry announced the repulse of a Ukrainian UAV attack near the Crimean peninsula.
In a related development, Odesa Governor Oleg Kiper said that Ukrainian forces shot down 17 Russian drones after they caused damage in the Izmail district on the Danube River bordering Romania.
* Meanwhile, observers are now talking a lot about the "drone campaign" and believe that "drone attacks" are being stepped up for many reasons.
Russia continues its military campaign targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure. Moscow has been carrying out attacks on targets in the Black Sea and the Danube River for weeks, since pulling out of a key agreement that allowed safe passage of grain ships through the Black Sea.
The latest attack comes ahead of a summit in Russia between President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hopes to revive a Black Sea grain deal.
Ukraine said Russia attacked the Odessa region with a barrage of Iranian-made Shahed drones. However, Kiev also said several drones struck the Danube region, injuring at least two people in attacks on “civilian industrial” infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Russian military said it had targeted “fuel storage” facilities in the Ukrainian port of Reni, which sits on the Danube River separating Ukraine and Romania. Moscow has repeatedly targeted the ports of Reni and Ismail on the Danube in recent weeks. Reni, which is also near Moldova, is both a seaport and a river port and an important transport hub.
Before the Russian drone attack, on August 30, Kiev launched the largest drone attack ever on Russian territory and in Pskov alone, 4 transport planes were destroyed.
A source close to the creators of Morok, one of the drones tested in the Crimea attack, confirmed that Ukraine’s new strike capability is the result of “seeds that have been planted for months” and is being prepared for mass production. This is a type of suicide drone that flies very fast and can carry a large payload over hundreds of kilometers. The Morok team worked tirelessly to create these drones without government funding, relying only on a few “donors”.
Observers say Ukraine needs to deal with Russia, a missile superpower aided by cheap Shahed drones bought from Iran, while Kiev is short on weapons. Ukraine must develop new missiles or repurpose old ones, such as the S-200 surface-to-air missile, which is now used as a surface-to-surface missile. Meanwhile, a network of volunteers and government groups is trying to build drones domestically.
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