Putin replaces Sergei Shoigu as protection minister, appoints him as secretary of Russia’s nationwide safety council

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed changing Sergei Shoigu as protection minister on Sunday and appointed him as secretary of Russia’s nationwide safety council.

The appointment comes after Putin proposed appointing Andrei Belousov because the nation’s protection minister instead of Shoigu, who has served within the publish for years. The reshuffle comes as Putin begins his fifth presidential time period and because the conflict in Ukraine drags on for the third 12 months

According to Russian legislation, all the Russian Cupboard resigned on Tuesday following Putin’s glittering inauguration within the Kremlin.

Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Protection Committee, advised Russian state information company RIA Novosti, “Because the president made such a call, and the president, I need to remind you, is the Supreme Commander in chief. Which means that at the moment, precisely such an individual is required because the minister of protection.”

The announcement got here as hundreds extra civilians have fled Russia’s renewed floor offensive in Ukraine’s northeast that has focused cities and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar shelling, officers mentioned Sunday.

The extreme battles have pressured no less than one Ukrainian unit to withdraw within the Kharkiv area, capitulating extra land to Russian forces throughout much less defended settlements within the so-called contested grey zone alongside the Russian border.

By Sunday afternoon, the city of Vovchansk, among the many largest within the northeast with a prewar inhabitants of 17,000, emerged as a focus within the battle.

Volodymyr Tymoshko, the pinnacle of the Kharkiv regional police, mentioned that Russian forces had been on the outskirts of the city and approaching from three instructions.

“Infantry combating is already going down,” he mentioned.

A Russian tank was noticed alongside a significant street resulting in the city, Tymoshko mentioned, illustrating Moscow’s confidence to deploy heavy weaponry.

An Related Press crew, positioned in a close-by village, noticed plumes of smoke rising from the city as Russian forces hurled shells. Evacuation groups labored nonstop all through the day to take residents, most of whom had been older, out of hurt’s means.

A minimum of 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv area since Friday, when Moscow’s forces launched the operation, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov mentioned in a social media assertion. Heavy combating raged Sunday alongside the northeast entrance line, the place Russian forces attacked 27 settlements previously 24 hours, he mentioned.

Analysts say the Russian push is designed to use ammunition shortages earlier than promised Western provides can attain the entrance line.

Ukrainian troopers mentioned that the Kremlin is utilizing the standard Russian tactic of launching a disproportionate quantity of fireside and infantry assaults to exhaust their troops and firepower. By intensifying battles in what was beforehand a static patch of the entrance line, Russian forces threaten to pin down Ukrainian forces within the northeast, whereas finishing up intense battles farther south the place Moscow can also be gaining floor.

It comes after Russia stepped up assaults in March focusing on vitality infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted had been a concerted effort to form circumstances for an offensive.

In the meantime, a 10-story house constructing partially collapsed within the Russian metropolis of Belgorod, close to the border, killing no less than eight individuals and injuring 20 others. Russian authorities mentioned that the constructing collapsed following Ukrainian shelling. Ukraine hasn’t commented on the incident.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned that halting Russia’s offensive within the northeast was a precedence, and that Kyiv’s troops had been persevering with counteroffensive operations in seven villages across the Kharkiv area.

“Disrupting the Russian offensive intentions is our No. 1 activity now. Whether or not we achieve that activity relies on each soldier, each sergeant, each officer,” Zelenskyy mentioned.

The Russian Protection Ministry mentioned Sunday that its forces had captured 4 villages on the border alongside Ukraine’s Kharkiv area, along with 5 villages reported to have been seized on Saturday. These areas had been probably poorly fortified due to the dynamic combating and fixed heavy shelling, easing a Russian advance.

Ukraine’s management hasn’t confirmed Moscow’s positive aspects. However Tymoshko mentioned that Strilecha, Pylna and Borsivika had been below Russian occupation, and it was from their course they had been bringing in infantry to stage assaults in different embattled villages of Hlyboke and Lukiantsi.

Russian ways in Vovchansk mirror these used within the battles for Bakhmut and Avdiivka within the Donetsk area, he mentioned, during which heavy aerial assaults had been accompanied by droves of infantry assaults.

“Now the Russians are merely wiping it (Vovchansk) off the face of the earth and advancing with the scorched earth methodology. That’s, they first scorch a selected space after which the infantry is available in, they usually at all times advance on this means,” he mentioned.

A Ukrainian unit mentioned that they’d been pressured to retreat in some areas and that Russian forces had captured no less than yet one more village late Saturday.

In a video Saturday night, the Hostri Kartuzy unit, a part of the particular forces’ detachment of Ukraine’s nationwide guard, mentioned that they had been combating for management of the village of Hlyboke.

“At the moment, throughout heavy combating, our defenders had been pressured to withdraw from a number of extra of their positions, and at the moment, one other settlement has come fully below Russian management. As of 20:00, combating for the village of Hlyboke is ongoing,” the fighters mentioned within the clip.

The Institute for the Examine of Warfare mentioned Saturday that it believed claims that Moscow had captured Strilecha, Pylna, Pletenivka and Borsivika had been correct, and that geolocated footage additionally appeared to indicate that Russian forces have seized Morokhovets and Oliinykove. The Washington-based suppose tank described the latest Russian positive aspects as “tactically vital.”

Within the conflict’s early days, Russia made a botched try to rapidly storm Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, however retreated from its outskirts after a couple of month. Within the fall of 2022, seven months later, Ukraine’s military pushed them out of Kharkiv. The daring counterattack helped persuade Western nations that Ukraine may defeat Russia on the battlefield and merited navy help.