Ukraine war
“Traitors to be punished” – Zelenskyi throws out two generals
Volodymyr Zelenskij in his current video speech
© Uncredited/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP / DPA
Ukraine is fighting extremely united against Russia, but there are also cracks in the ranks of the Kiev leadership. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now dismissed two heads of the secret service as “traitors”.
If the various secret service reports are correct, then the heads of top military and presidential advisers have been rolling in Moscow for a long time. Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin is said to have fired eight generals three weeks ago, and the head of the FSB secret service is under house arrest. The reason is the disastrous preparation and implementation of the Ukraine invasion. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “One of the Achilles’ heels of autocracies is that in these systems there are no people who tell the truth to the powerful or have the opportunity to tell the truth to the powerful. I think that is what we are seeing in Russia.”
Zelenskyi fires intelligence chiefs
Apparently there are also those responsible on the Ukrainian side who are not acting in the interests of the state leadership and have therefore been thrown out. However, officially. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now dismissed two generals: the former head of the SBU secret service, Andriy Naumov, and the ex-SBU head for the Kherson region, Serhey Kryvoruchko. Selenskyj did not give any details, but said: “Now I don’t have time to take care of all the traitors. But gradually they will all be punished.”
Naumov had already been relieved of his post last summer and had allegedly fled abroad before the start of the war. According to the media, he is involved in smuggling and corruption at customs.
Just a few days ago, the Ukrainian president addressed “these phenomenal fools” who wanted to work with the Russian military: “I would like to point out that they (the Russians) themselves repel their own people. Then what do they do with foreign traitors? ” He urged the potential traitors to think. “But I know that people like that don’t think about anything,” said Zelenskyy. “Otherwise they would not have become traitors.”
Is Russia building up an administration in southern Ukraine?
The Ukrainian leader also noted that Russia is beginning to establish an administration in the occupied southern Ukrainian territories. A pseudo-referendum on the formation of a “people’s republic” is also planned for Cherson – similar to that in the eastern Ukrainian separatist areas. However, it is unclear whether the dismissal of the official in the region is related to this development.