Zelensky fires senior officials and brands them TRAITORS who failed to defend the country

Volodymyr Zelensky has fired two senior officials and branded them ‘traitors’ in a rare show of dissent among the ranks in Ukraine.

The president accused the two generals, who worked for the national security service, of failing in their duty to protect the country.

He also warned others they would be punished for similar behaviour.

Zelensky said in a speech: ‘Regarding antiheroes. Now, I do not have time to deal with all the traitors. But gradually they will all be punished.

‘That is why the ex-chief of the Main Department of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine Naumov Andriy Olehovych and the former head of the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kherson region Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych are no longer generals.’

The occasion marked the first time Zelensky has announced high-profile sackings of those involved in Ukraine’s defence.

He did not elaborate further on what led to the sacking of the two officials.  

But he added: ‘Those servicemen among senior officers who have not decided where their homeland is, who violate the military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people as regards (to) the protection of our state, its freedom and independence, will inevitably be deprived of senior military ranks. 

Random generals don’t belong here!’ 

Last month, Russia fired one of its top generals after claims he had leaked information which compromised their invasion. 

News of his arrest by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) was reported by three trusted sources, according to investigative news website Bellingcat.

General Roman Gavrilov, 45, the deputy chief of Vladimir Putin’s Rosgvardia force – or National Guard – was detained amid claims he had ‘squandered’ much-needed fuel as Putin’s invasion took another blow.

Experts said it shows Putin may be looking for scapegoats to take the blame for the faltering war effort. 

Meanwhile, Zelensky said last night the situation in the south and the Donbas region remained extremely difficult and reiterated that Russia was building up forces near the besieged city of Mariupol.

Zelensky, who often uses colourful imagery, said the Russians were so evil and so keen on destruction that they seemed to be from another world, ‘monsters who burn and plunder, who attack and are bent on murder’.

Russia says it is carrying out a ‘special operation’ to disarm and ‘denazify’ its neighbour. Moscow also denies Kyiv’s accusations that Russian forces are targeting civilians.

Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had pushed back the Russians from Kyiv and Chernihiv – two cities Moscow had announced would no longer be the focus of attacks as they seek to secure the separatist Donbas and Luhansk regions in the south-east.

‘There will be battles ahead. We still need to go down a very difficult path to get everything we want,’ he said.

‘The situation in the south and in the Donbas remains extremely difficult.’

It comes as Russia today accused Ukrainian helicopters of attacking an oil facility inside Russia after flying 25 miles undetected past the border, amid claims the Kremlin could stage a ‘false flag’ attack to justify a further escalation of the war. 

Vyacheslav Gladkov said two of Ukraine’s military helicopters struck a fuel storage facility in the Russian city of Belgorod on Friday with S-8 rockets after crossing the border at low altitude in what would be the first air strike on Russian soil since WWII.

The resulting blaze injured two workers at the depot run by energy giant Roseneft, while some areas in the city were being evacuated, said Gladkov, who was appointed by Vladimir Putin in 2020.

Ukraine’s government is yet to confirm the incident but if true, it would be the second time Ukraine has ventured past the border since the invasion following the alleged long-range missile attack on Millerovo airbase last month, in the latest humiliation for Putin in his flailing campaign. 

Video shared on social media appeared to show the attack happening at 5.43am local time, followed by helicopters flying away from the blaze, although analysts have noted Russia uses the same time of helicopters as Ukraine. 

But last week, an exiled Russian politician claimed the Kremlin is plotting a wave of attacks on its own cities in a false flag operation led by the FSB that it will blame on Ukraine to justify a general mobilisation of troops.

Ilya Ponomarev, 46, said the Russian security service is preparing to target its own chemical and weapons factories in attacks that could see civilians die.