Russia-Ukraine war live: Volodymyr Zelenskiy orders purge of Ukraine state guard after alleged assassination plots

By Guardian - Lili Bayer/Yohannes Lowe (earlier) -Mon 24 Jun 2024

State security service said last month it had caught two guard service colonels accused of cooperating with Russia to plot Zelenskiy’s assassination. Zelenskiy orders purge of state guard after alleged assassination plots.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the new chief of Ukraine’s state guard service to clear its ranks of people discrediting it after two of its officers were accused of plotting to assassinate senior officials.

The state Security Service (SBU) said last month that it had caught two guard service colonels accused of cooperating with Russia to plot the assassination of Zelenskiy and other officials, including military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. The guard service provides security for various governement officials.

Zelenskiy’s murder was intended as a “gift” for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, who was inaugurated at the Kremlin last month for a fifth time, the SBU said.

Introducing Col Oleksiy Morozov to the staff on Monday, Zelenskiy said his main objective was to ensure that only those who see their future tied with Ukraine join the agency.

“And, of course, the agency must be cleared of anyone who chooses not Ukraine for themselves or discredits the state guard service,” he wrote on Telegram.

Zelenskiy dismissed Morozov’s predecessor Serhiy Rud in May, two days after the SBU detained agency employees who it said worked for Russia’s Federal Security Service and leaked classified information.

Updated at 13.03 BST43m ago13.56 BST

Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up frontline attacks using prohibited hazardous chemicals, AFP reported.

The Ukrainian military said that it had registered 715 cases of the use of ammunitions containing “hazardous chemical compounds” by Russian forces in May.

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50m ago13.49 BST

The death toll from a series of attacks on churches and synagogues in Russia’s Dagestan has risen to 20, Reuters reported.

1h ago13.36 BST

Here are the latest images from Ukraine.

A view of the damaged area as officials conduct debris removal work and battling to put out flames following a Russian missile attack hitting a big civil warehouse in Odesa, Ukraine on June 24. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Officials conduct debris removal work and battle to put out the flames as four people were wounded according to military governor following a Russian missile attack in Odesa, Ukraine on June 24. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

2h ago13.02 BST

Zelenskiy orders purge of state guard after alleged assassination plots

Zelenskiy’s murder was intended as a “gift” for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, who was inaugurated at the Kremlin last month for a fifth time, the SBU said.

Introducing Col Oleksiy Morozov to the staff on Monday, Zelenskiy said his main objective was to ensure that only those who see their future tied with Ukraine join the agency.

“And, of course, the agency must be cleared of anyone who chooses not Ukraine for themselves or discredits the state guard service,” he wrote on Telegram.

Updated at 13.03 BST - 2h ago12.54 BST

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s eastern town of Pokrovsk killed at least four people and injured 34 more, the regional governor, Vadym Filashkin, said on Monday.

Two children were among the injured, he wrote on Telegram, adding that a private house was destroyed – and 16 others damaged – after Russian troops launched two missiles.

Updated at 12.56 BST2h ago12.51 BST

Olaf Scholz says his party's support for Ukraine is linked to its declining popularity

The decreasing popularity of Germany’s Social Democratic party (SDP), led by chancellor Olaf Scholz, is linked to some voters’ opposition to the party’s support for Ukraine, Scholz has been quoted as saying in an interview with Tagesschau, the German TV news programme.

Many voters do not agree with the government’s support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, which is “also reflected by the election results,” Scholz said, according to the Kyiv Independent. The German chancellor added that there is “no alternative to changing (the government’s policy toward Ukraine)”.

In the European parliamentary elections in June, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) jumped to 14.2% from 11% in 2019, despite a slew of scandals, while Scholz’s SDP slid to 14.6%, worse than its weakest ever result, in 2019. The AFD opposes German military support to Ukraine.

Scholz has provided substantial military aid to Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, including anti-air missiles.

2h ago12.26 BST

The Russian foreign ministry has said that missiles used in Sunday’s attack on Crimea had been programmed by US specialists and guided based on intelligence data from American satellites and a nearby US reconnaissance drone. The ministry did not provide any evidence to support its claim.

The Kremlin directly blamed the US on Monday for a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with US-supplied Atacms missiles that reportedly killed at least four people, including two children, and injured 151 more (see earlier post at 08.39 for more details).

3h ago11.50 BST

Ukraine claims it destroyed Russian drone base - report

Ukraine has said that satellite pictures show the destruction of a Russian warehouse used to launch drones and to train cadets, BBC News reports.

The BBC has this story:

The photos – posted by Ukraine’s Navy – follow reports of a massive explosion near a Russian airfield in the southern region of Krasnodar.

Moscow has yet to comment on the reports, but did say it has shot down a number of drones in the region overnight on Friday.

Navy officials in Kyiv said a number of training instructors and cadets learning to operate the Iranian-made Shahed drones were killed by the attack, which they said happened on Friday night.

In a post to Telegram, Navy officials in Kyiv said the operation was planned and conducted in partnership with Ukrainian intelligence agencies.

The base sat on the Sea of Azov opposite the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, data from Planet Labs – the US-based company who took the photos – showed.

3h ago11.44 BST

Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:

A local resident stands at a site of a Russian missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine. Photograph: Serhii Smolientsev/Reuters

A view shows a site of a Russian missile strike in Odesa. Photograph: Serhii Smolientsev/Reuters

Ukrainian service members of the 33rd Separate Mechanised Brigade at an undisclosed location in Donetsk region. Photograph: Alina Smutko/Reuters

3h ago11.40 BST

Russia summons US ambassador over Crimea missile strike

Russia’s foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on Monday to tell her that Moscow blamed Kyiv and Washington equally for a deadly missile attack on the city of Sevastopol in Crimea.

“Such actions by Washington … will not be left without response,” the ministry said in a statement. “There will definitely be response measures.”

The defence ministry in Moscow said US specialists had set the Atacms missiles’ flight coordinates on the basis of information from US spy satellites, meaning Washington was directly responsible (see post at 10.27 for more details).