Russian Strikes Kill 4 in Ukraine      07/17 06:30

   

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight killed at least 
four civilians and wounded 20 other people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, 
as he faces a political crisis after firing his popular defense minister.

   Zelenskyy's major reshuffle of his government on Thursday, which included 
the appointment of a new prime minister, unsettled the country's military 
leadership and trigged a public outcry. It was an unwelcome difficulty after 
Ukraine has gained traction in its fight against Russia's more than 4-year-old 
invasion.

   The surprise departure from the defense ministry of Mykhailo Fedorov, a 
youthful and popular member of the government, saw thousands of people 
demonstrate against his dismissal in cities across Ukraine on Thursday. Further 
street protests were expected on Friday.

   Fedorov, 35, who was in the post for just six months, is widely seen as the 
driving force behind Ukraine's swift and successful technological innovation 
and other measures, such as fighting military corruption, that have brought 
fresh hope in the war for Ukrainians.

   Relations between Fedorov and Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of 
Ukraine's armed forces who started his military career in the former Soviet 
Union, had broken down, according to Zelenskyy, and made Fedorov's position 
untenable.

   Zelenskyy said he had asked Maj. Gen. Yevhen Khmara, acting head of the 
state's security service and a highly regarded special operations expert, to 
take over the defense minister's duties.

   Zelenskyy said late Thursday he would ask Parliament to formally approve 
Khmara's appointment as defense minister, as required by law. That step could 
be held up by bureaucratic hurdles, however. Ukrainian law requires the defense 
minister to be a civilian, so a serving soldier or security service officer 
must leave active service before being formally appointed. Also, lawmakers will 
be on summer recess through mid-August.

   Khmara has been in charge of the SBU security service since January. He had 
previously led the SBU's elite Alpha special forces unit and is known for being 
an architect of Operation Spiderweb, one of Ukraine's most spectacular attacks 
when it struck Russian air bases last year. He joined the Alpha unit in 2011 
and became its commander in 2023 before being promoted to major general the 
following year.

   Moscow's response to its battlefield difficulties and Ukraine's targeting of 
Russian oil facilities, which has caused severe fuel shortages, has focused in 
part on relentless strategic bombing of civilian areas of Ukraine.

   Two people were killed and 10 others injured, including children, in an 
overnight Russian missile attack on Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa, 
regional military administration head Oleh Kiper said. One of those killed was 
a woman who had been walking in a park with her children, who survived, he said.

   In the Zaporizhzhia region, two people were killed and five more were 
injured in a strike, according to Zelenskyy. He said three people were injured 
as a result of Russian shelling in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

   Officials said more people were injured in Russian strikes on five other 
regions of Ukraine.

   Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 243 
Ukrainian drones overnight into Friday.

   Three civilians were killed and seven others injured in Ukrainian drone 
attacks over the previous 24 hours, according to Vladimir Saldo, the 
Moscow-appointed head of the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region.