Zelenskyy says Ukrainian defense minister will be replaced this week: Live updates

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday that defense minister Oleksii Reznikov will be replaced this week, citing the need for "new approaches and different formats of interaction both with the military and with society."

Zelenskyy, who made the announcement on his official Telegram account, wrote that new leadership was needed after Reznikov "has gone through more than 550 days of full-scale war." The Ukrainian leader later confirmed that Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar lawmaker, would take over the role.

"I have decided to replace the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov has gone through more than 550 days of full-scale war. I believe that the Ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society at large. Now Rustem Umerov should lead the Ministry,” Zelenskyy said.

Umerov, 41, a politician with the opposition Holos party, has served as head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine since September 2022. He was involved in the exchange of prisoners of war, political prisoners, children and civilians, as well as the evacuation of civilians from occupied territories. Umierov was also part of the Ukrainian delegation in negotiations with Russia over the U.N.-backed grain deal.

In August, a scandal arose around the Ministry of Defense’s procurement of military jackets. Ukrainian investigative journalists reported that the materials were purchased at a price three times higher than normal and that instead of winter jackets, summer ones were ordered. In the customs documents from the supplier, the jackets were priced at $29 per unit, but the Ministry of Defense paid $86 per unit. Reznikov denied the allegations during a news conference last week.

President Joe Biden told reporters in Delaware on Sunday that he’s aware Zelenskyy had replaced his defense chief. Asked if he had any comment, Biden said, "not publicly."

Developments:

◾Three people were killed in two separate attacks by Russian shelling in the Donetsk area Sunday. An 85-year-old man was named among the victims after being crushed by the rubble of his own home, Ukraine’s Prosecutors’ Office reported.

◾Ukrainian prosecutors announced Sunday that they had opened a war crimes investigation into the death of a police officer killed by Russian shelling on the town of Seredyna-Buda on Saturday afternoon. Two other police officers and one civilian were wounded during the attack, which hit Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region.

Russian drone barrage hits Odesa

Two people were hospitalized Sunday after a 3½-hour barrage on a port in Ukraine’s Odesa region by Russian drones, Ukrainian officials said.

Russian forces fired 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones along the Danube River in the early hours of Sunday, 22 of which were shot down by air defenses, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, described the assault as part of a Russian drive “to provoke a food crisis and hunger in the world.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the attack was aimed at fuel storage facilities used to supply military equipment.

Putin to meet Turkish President

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to discuss the resumption of food shipments from Ukraine under a Black Sea grain agreement that Moscow broke off from in July.

Putin and Erdogan’s long-awaited meeting is due to take place in Sochi on Russia’s southwest coast.

Turkish officials have confirmed that the pair will discuss renewing the Black Sea grain initiative, which the Kremlin pulled out of six weeks ago. The long-awaited meeting is due to take place in Sochi on Russia’s southwest coast.

The deal — brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022 — had allowed nearly 33 million metric tons (36 million tons) of grain and other commodities to leave three Ukrainian ports safely despite Russia’s war.

But Russia broke away from the agreement after claiming that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored. Moscow complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade, even though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine war updates: Volodymyr Zelenskyy replaces defense minister