Ukraine-Russia war: Ukraine sacks 'corrupt' cyber defence chiefs

Thank you for following the Telegraph’s coverage of the war in Ukraine. We’ll be back again tomorrow with all the latest developments.

• A Ukrainian teenager kidnapped by Russia from Mariupol returned home
• US defence secretary Lloyd Austin made a surprise visit to Ukraine to show America’s continued support for the war
• The Kremlin made a formal diplomatic protest against Finland closing its border, calling it ‘Russophobic’
• Japan pledged £140million for reconstruction in Ukraine
• Zelensky fired a major general from her command of Ukraine’s medical forces
• Ukraine sacked two cyber defence chiefs for their role in a multi-million pound embezzlement scheme
• Russia put the Ukrainian winner of Eurovision 2016 on a wanted list

Russia has summoned Finland’s ambassador to Moscow to lodge a formal diplomatic border over the closure of four border crossings between the two countries.

Finland has accused Russia of encouraging illegal migrants to cross the border in retaliation to Finland joining Nato earlier this year.

Russia’s foreign ministry described the closures as a “rushed” decision that violated the rights of people on both sides of the border.

An 83-year-old woman has been killed by Russian shelling in a southern Ukrainian city.

Serhii Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk, said a man, 53, was also injured in the attack by Russian artillery today in Nikopol.

Several houses, cars and gas and electricity lines were also damaged in the incident, Mr Lysak said.

Nikopol is on the northern bank of the Kakhovka reservoir near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and is a regular target for Russian attacks.

Russia has put the Ukrainian winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on its wanted list.

Susana Jamaladinova, known professionally as Jamala, was charged under a law adopted last year that bans spreading so-called fake information about the Russian military and the ongoing fighting in Ukraine.

Ms Jamaladinova is of Crimean Tatar descent and won Eurovision with the song 1944, the title of which refers to the year the Soviet Union deported the Crimean Tatars from the peninsula en masse.

Russia protested “1944” being allowed in the competition, saying it violated rules against political speech in Eurovision.

Volodomyr Zelensky has hailed Lloyd Austin’s visit to Kyiv as a “very important signal for Ukraine” as the pair met.

The American defence secretary said US support for Ukraine would continue “for the long haul”.

“We count on your support,” Mr Zelensky said, thanking Congress as well as the American people for their backing.

Mr Austin is also set to meet Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, and defence minister Rustem Umerov during his visit.

Finland is preparing to completely shut its border with Russia after an upsurge in illegal migration, a report has claimed.

Finnish outlet Iltalehti reported that the border could close as soon as Wednesday, with four of the nine crossings between the two countries already shut.

President Sauli Niinisto has said it is now impossible for the country to return migrants who do not meet the criteria for asylum.

“Finland has chosen the path of confrontation with Russia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

“From the Kremlin’s point of view, this is a big mistake.”

Ukraine has sacked two senior cyber defence officials as a probe into multi-million pound corruption begins.

Cabinet chief Taras Melnychuk said Yurii Shchyhol, the head of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP), and Viktor Zhora, his deputy, have been sacked.

The firings came as anti-corruption prosecutors announced they were investigating officials in cyber defence over a six-person plot to embezzle £1.4million ($1.7million) in 2021.

Prosecutors did not identify Mr Shychyhol and Mr Zhora by name.

Ukraine has stepped up efforts to curtail corruption as it pursues membership in the European Union.

Volodomyr Zelensky has demanded rapid operational changes to Ukraine’s armed forces after sacking a general.

Major General Tetiana Ostashchenko, commander of Ukraine’s medical forces, was dismissed on Sunday in a decision defence minister Rustem Umerov called “obvious”.

“We need a fundamentally new level of medical support for our soldiers,” Mr Zelensky said, adding there was a need for improved tourniquets, full digitalisation and better communication.

“There is little time left to wait for results. Quick action is needed for forthcoming changes.”

Mr Umerov acknowledged the change on the Telegram messaging app and said digitalisation, “tactical medicine” and rotation of servicemen would be top priorities moving forwards.

Mrs Ostashchenko’s dismissal came a week after a Ukrainian news outlet suggested her removal, as well as that of others, was imminent following consultations with paramedics and other officials responsible for providing support to the military.

Tensions between Ukraine’s political and military leadership have spilled out into the open as its counter-offensive has stalled.

Vladimir Putin will tell the G20 Russia’s view of the “deeply unstable world situation” at a virtual summit on Wednesday.

The Russian president skipped the annual in-person summit in India in September.

He has not attended any since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Japan has pledged £140million for reconstruction in Ukraine.

Japan’s foreign minister and industry minister are visiting Ukraine with members of its largest business lobby to meet officials ahead of a reconstruction conference it is hosting in February next year.

“Japan’s experience in post-war reconstruction could be useful for the economic recovery of Ukraine,” prime minister Denys Shmyhal said.

He added that Ukraine’s priorities are energy supply, housing, infrastructure, demining and business support.

Volodomyr Zelensky has congratulated Javier Milei after he was elected as Argentina’s new president.

“I appreciate his clear stance in support of Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said. 

“I look forward to working together to strengthen our cooperation and restore international order based on international law.”

Russia’s response was much more muted.

“We noted a number of statements that Mr. Milei made during the election campaign, but we will focus on and judge him mainly by the statements that he makes after the inauguration,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Milei expressed support for Ukraine on the campaign trail and has said that he sees the United States and Israel as Argentina’s main partners.

Lachlan Murdoch met Volodomyr Zelensky in Kyiv over the weekend, Axios has reported.

Mr Murdoch last week succeeded his father Rupert as chairman of Fox and News Corp, which is the ultimate owner of The Sun and The Times.

Fox is a key news source for Republican voters in the US, whose support for funding Ukraine has declined as the war has gone on.

Mr Murdoch declined to comment on the report.

The Kremlin has boasted that it is able to “minimise the negative consequences of sanctions” as a proposed European Union ban on Russian diamonds looms.

The EU is planning to ban diamond imports from Russia as part of a new sanctions package.

“As a rule, it turns out that a boomerang effect is partially triggered: the interests of the Europeans themselves suffer,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

“So far, we have been able to find ways to minimise the negative consequences of sanctions.”

Russia is the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds by volume.

The Kremlin has condemned Finland’s decision to close four of its border crossings with Russia as “Russophobic”.

Helsinki shut the crossings on Saturday in a bid to halt an upsurge in illegal migration, which it says is Russia’s retaliation to it joining Nato.

“This causes nothing but deep regret, because we had long-standing, very good relations with Finland, pragmatic, based on mutual respect,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

“And of course, we regret that these relations were replaced by such an exclusively Russophobic position, which the leaders of this country began to espouse.”

Russia’s draconian laws are silencing soldiers’ families and crushing dissent, the Ministry of Defence has said.

In its latest intelligence briefing, the MoD said extended deployments on the frontline have sowed dissent among the soldiers and their families.

“However, Russia’s draconian legislation has so far prevented troops’ relatives from coalescing into an influential lobbying force, as soldiers’ mothers did during the Afghan-Soviet War of the 1980s,” it added.

On 7 November, wives of soldiers serving in Ukraine held their first public street protest in Moscow since the war began. It was broken up by police within minutes.

Two civilians have been killed and another injured by Russian shelling in Kherson this morning.

A war crimes investigation has been opened into the incident in the southern Ukrainian city, which occurred at 7am GMT.

The victims were drivers for “a private transport business”, governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Rainy conditions in eastern and southern Ukraine are slowing combat as winter sets in, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank has said.

It reported claims that Ukraine has been unable to use armoured vehicles in Zaporizhzhia, although infantry units are active.

“Freezing weather conditions during the winter will likely prompt the resumption of more active combat operations,” it added.

American defence secretary Lloyd Austin has made a surprise visit to Ukraine in a bid to “reinforce the staunch support of the United States for Ukraine’s fight for freedom” amid the war in Gaza.

“He will also underscore the continued U.S. commitment to providing Ukraine with the security assistance it needs to defend itself from Russian aggression,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Austin said: “I’m here today to deliver an important message – the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine in their fight for freedom against Russia’s aggression, both now and into the future.”

It is his second visit to Ukraine since the war began.

Russia intercepted two Ukrainian drones over the Moscow oblast on Sunday, Moscow’s mayor has said.

The drones were downed over Bogorodskoye, in the capital’s east, and the city of Elektrostal, 36 miles further east.

Sergey Sobyanin said they caused no damage and killed no one.

Ukraine rarely comments on reports of operational activities inside Russia’s borders.

A Ukrainian teenager who was kidnapped by Russia from Mariupol has returned home.

Bohdan Yermokhin, who turned 18 on Sunday, was placed in a foster family near Moscow and had been told to report to a Russian army draft office next month.

Fearing conscription, Mr Yermokhin appealed to Volodomyr Zelensky to bring him back to Ukraine, having being turned back on a previous attempt in March.

“The emotions are overwhelming, all good, with the notion that Ukraine needs me,” Mr Yermokhin told Reuters after crossing the border on Sunday.

Ukraine says 20,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia since the war began.

A Ukrainian soldier and a woman were killed in a Kyiv apartment when a grenade exploded.

The blast in the city’s eastern Dniprovskyi district hospitalised another man but its cause is not yet known, the Kyiv police said on Sunday night.

Earlier this month, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, a close aide to Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, was killed at his home when a grenade believed to have been sent to him as a birthday present exploded.