Amid heavy fighting, Kyiv fires six deputy ministers

Kyiv, September 18

Six Ukrainian deputy defence ministers were fired on Monday following the dismissal two weeks ago of Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov in a corruption scandal, officials said, as heavy fighting continued in the east.

Russia claimed to have struck key Ukrainian facilities in air attacks overnight, hitting stores of Storm Shadow missiles and depleted uranium ammunition along with electronic intelligence centres and training facilities for Ukrainian military scouts.

The deputy defence ministers fired included Hanna Maliar, Vitalii Deyneha and Denys Sharapov, as well as the state secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Kostiantyn Vashchenko, according to the Telegram account of Taras Melnychuk, permanent representative of the Cabinet of Ministers. Melnychuk provided no explanation, but the government has been investigating accusations of corruption in the military related to purchasing equipment. — AP

Chinese minister heads to Moscow

Beijing: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is heading to Russia for security talks after two days of meetings with US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser over the weekend in Malta. The US and China are at odds over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. AP

Toss out Ukrainian case, UN court told

The Hague: Russia on Monday called a Ukrainian case alleging that Moscow abused the Genocide Convention to justify its invasion last year an “abuse of process”. Its lawyers urged judges at the UN’s highest court to throw the case out. AP