Kurakhove shelling, 2030 World Cup bid, and request for trains from Finland: last night's highlights
The occupiers shelled Kurakhove in Donetsk Oblast, damaging eight high—rise buildings; Morocco will replace Ukraine in the bid to host the World Cup with Spain and Portugal; Ukrzaliznytsia has asked Finland for trains that used to run to Russia. Here's what you may have missed from the previous night.
Shelling of Kurakhove
In the evening of March 13, Russian occupation forces shelled the town of Kurakhove in Donetsk Oblast.
According to preliminary information, there were no victims. However, eight multi-storey buildings and a transformer substation were damaged, leaving more than 1,000 households without electricity.
Morocco to replace Ukraine
Morocco has joined Spain and Portugal's bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Morocco World News claims that the African country will replace Ukraine, which was supposed to join the Spanish and Portuguese bids before its football federation was caught up in a corruption scandal. Presumably, this refers to the case of the head of the Ukrainian Football Association, Andriy Pavelko, who is suspected of embezzling 26.5 million hryvnias ($722,170).
Ukraine asks Finland for trains
Former Ukrzaliznytsia CEO Alexander Kamyshin asked Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin during her visit to Kyiv on March 10 to give Ukraine four high-speed trains that used to run to Russia.
These trains stopped running on March 27, 2022. However, the Finnish state-owned railway company VR Group explains that it cannot decide the fate of the trains on its own.
Bail for Kobolyev
As of the evening of March 14, about 107 million hryvnias ($2.92 million) in bail was posted for the former CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Andriy Kobolyev. The total amount stands at about 230 million hryvnias ($6.27 miliion).
The prosecutor's office asked to arrest Kobolyev or set bail for him at 365 million hryvnias ($9.95 million). However, the High Anti-Corruption Court did not grant this request. At the same time, the court ordered the former head of Naftogaz to wear an electronic tag.
Kobolyev is suspected of abuse of office and has secured bonuses worth almost $10 million (in equivalent).
Other news
- On March 14, four people were injured in Kherson Oblast as a result of Russian shelling, including two rescuers.
- On the evening of March 14, the governor of Russia's Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced that three missiles had been shot down over the region. According to the Russian official, the debris fell into the residential neighborhood.
- Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the Russians believe in an imminent counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Defense Forces and have already gone on the defensive, including in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
- The Russian Defense Ministry plans to recruit another 400,000 contract soldiers. Recruitment will begin on April 1.
- Russian blogger Svetlana Timofeeva, who was detained in Albania on August 20, 2022, on suspicion of espionage, has requested asylum in the country. She claims that she may be persecuted in her homeland.
- In the temporarily occupied Mariupol district, children are forced to start the school week by raising the Russian flag and listening to the occupiers' anthem.