Zelenskyi calls for the energy and justice ministers to resign amid an energy graft probe. Russian forces bring vehicles and mortars into Pokrovsk. Russia is set to lose 37 billion dollars of oil revenues this year, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence says.
Zelenskyi calls for energy, justice ministers to resign amid energy graft probe
Ukraine’s Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko submitted their resignations Wednesday after President Volodymyr Zelenskyi called for them to step down in the wake of an investigation into an alleged kickback scheme in the nuclear power sector.
In a post to his official Telegram channel, Zelenskyi said that Halushchenko and Hrynchuk, “could not remain in their positions” as a “matter of trust.” “If there are accusations, they must be answered,” he said. “The decision to remove them from office is prompt, the fastest.”
Zelenskyi also said he will enact the sanctions that the National Security and Defense Council will impose on two people implicated in the corrupt scheme. Ukrainian news sites Economichna Pravda and RBC Ukraine said, citing unnamed sources, that the people in question are Tymur Mindich and Oleksandr Tsukerman.
“Right now it is extremely difficult for everyone in Ukraine — enduring power outages, Russian strikes, and losses. It is absolutely unacceptable that, amid all this, there are also some [corruption] schemes in the energy sector. I will sign a decree to impose sanctions on two individuals implicated in the NABU [National Anti-Corruption Bureau] case concerning [the state nuclear energy operator] Energoatom,” Zelenskyi said on X.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko said Wednesday that the government had asked the National Security and Defense Council to sanction Tymur Mindich and Oleksandr Tsukerman. When approved by the council, the sanctions will come into effect after they will have been endorsed by the president.
Russian forces bring vehicles, mortars into Pokrovsk
Russian forces have been bringing motorcycles, pickup trucks and mortars into Pokrovsk at least since November 6. The city’s perimeter is within drone range, Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda said Wednesday. Ukraine’s attempts to clear the city of Russian units were late and did not change the power balance, it added.
Russian forces were first seen moving into Pokrovsk in a military pickup truck, not walking as before, in a video clip posted to the Telegram channel of the Peaky Blinders unit of the Ukrainian National Guard. The Russians were filmed removing the barriers and driving further into the city.
A video has gone viral on social media on Monday showing Russian soldiers walking and driving unimpeded in a convoy through a road on civilian cars and motorbikes. Ukrainska Pravda has verified the location where the video was filmed as the southern outskirts of the city on the side of the village of Novopavlivka and the Selydove highway.
Ukrainian troops tried to target the convoy, but it was difficult in the dense fog, Ukrainska Pravda said.
An unnamed Ukrainian service member stationed in the Pokrovsk direction was cited by the news site as saying: “The Russians are already north of the railway tracks [running through the middle of Pokrovsk, according to Ukrainska Pravda], they have reached the hospital and country houses. The adversary is gaining momentum. No special forces will be able to bring order into the situation, because there are plenty of enemy forces. Up to 50 [Russian soldiers] are brought into Pokrovsk through the main highway from Selydove every day.”
Another unnamed Ukrainian service member deployed to the Pokrovsk direction said: “What could a dozen infantry soldiers have done in a huge city? Everyone has finally accepted that [we’ve] lost Pokrovsk and stopped saying bullshit. The Russians have brought mortars inside Pokrovsk and will start targeting the [drone] pilots’ positions. In parallel, the Russians are trying to jump into Rivne [a village between Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad] and enter Myrnohrad. They move in convoys and almost all of them get killed, otherwise they move in small groups, [a tactic] that brings them success.”
Russia set to lose 37 billion dollars of oil revenues this year, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence says
Russia’s oil production and refining have markedly declined this year for the first time since the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a post to X Wednesday after hearing a report from the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Oleh Ivashchenko.
“The oil and gas revenues of the Russian budget are decreasing, and by the end of this year, Russia will have lost at least 37 billion dollars in budget oil and gas income. In addition, Russian oil companies and the entire energy sector are losing tens of billions more. All this curbs Russia’s war machine. Both conventional sanctions against Russia and Ukraine’s long-range sanctions are working effectively,” Zelenskyi said.
Ukraine has prioritized directions for further work on sanctions to keep Russia under pressure, he said.
“I thank all our partners who are also delivering entirely justified legal blows against the vessels of Russia’s oil fleet – the Russians are now using fewer tankers,” he added.
