Army commander replaced
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Ruslan Khomchak.
"Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not question Ruslan Khomchak's patriotism, loyalty to oath or competence but he wants to see synergy between the Defence Ministry and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, we do not see this synergy," presidential spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov has said at a briefing.
The president appointed the chief of the North Operational-Tactical Group, Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, to the post.
Khomchak will become the first deputy secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, thus taking the post previously held by Col-Gen Mykhaylo Koval.
SBU reshuffle
The recent reshuffle at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) attests to Zelenskyy's striving to tackle smuggling and reform the agency, his spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov has said. He added that in addition to being in breach of Ukrainian legislation and robbing the budget of revenues, smuggling threatens Ukraine's economic stability.
Prosecutor resigns
Deputy Prosecutor-General Gyunduz Mamedov tendered his resignation letter today. In late June, he was stripped of authority over the department overseeing criminal proceedings on war crimes. In July, he lost the authority over the prosecutors' training centre and the juvenile justice department.
Donbas
Forty-five servicemen have been killed and 163 wounded in the Donbas hostilities zone over one year of the ceasefire which was declared on 27 July 2020, the Ukrainian delegation to the trilateral contact group has said. There have been 1,995 shooting attacks.
From 27 July 2019 to 27 July 2020, the Russian occupying troops carried out 4,257 attacks, killed 88 Ukrainian servicemen and wounded 494 more.
Sheremet case
Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyy district court has refused to cancel house arrest for serviceman and musician Andriy Antonenko (Riffmaster) who is suspected of killing journalist Pavlo Sheremet on 20 July 2016.
Baptism of Kyivan Rus
Around 55,000 believers of the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian Orthodox Church have taken part in a procession on occasion of Kyivan Rus Baptism Day. According to a Suspilne correspondent, hardly anyone of them wore a face mask or maintained social distancing. Most of the believers told her they either rely on God to protect them or do not believe in viruses.