Shahed attack and personnel rotations in ministries: last night's highlights
At night, the Russian occupiers attacked Ukraine with Shaheds, Russia tried to sneak a representative of the DPR into the UN Security Council meeting, and staff rotations are expected in Ukrainian ministries. Here is what you may have missed from the previous night.
The Shahed attack
On the evening of 17 March and at night of 18 March, the Russian occupation forces sent a total of 16 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze attack drones to Ukraine. Of these, 11 drones were shot down by air defense forces in the central, western, and eastern regions of Ukraine.
The Kyiv City Military Administration reported that the air defense system had shot down all the Shaheds that Russia had sent to the capital, but did not specify how many there were.
The regional military administrations of Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions also reported air defense operations during the alert, and explosions were heard in Novomoskovsk in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Personnel rotation
Pavlo Riabikin will leave the post of Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine and be replaced by former Ukrzaliznytsia CEO Oleksandr Kamyshin, Voice MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak said. He noted that these personnel rotations are planned for the next plenary week of the Verkhovna Rada.
According to Zhelezniak, Riabikin will become an ambassador to China. In addition, the MP also said that Minister of Education and Science Serhii Shkarlet would resign and that the director of the Small Academy of Sciences, Oksen Lisovyi, would take over.
Russia tried to sneak a “representative of the DPR” to the UN Security Council
Russia tried to sneak the “ombudsman of the Donetsk People's Republic” into the UN Security Council meeting to give a “report”. Her speech was explained by the fact that it would give the Security Council an “idea of the real” situation in Donbas. However, the Security Council voted against the participation of the occupiers' protégé in the meeting.
Other news:
- The Ministry of Defense is creating a unit for international law to investigate Russia's war crimes in Ukraine;
- The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation will “conduct an inspection” into the “illegal” issuance of the arrest warrant for Putin;
- The UN published a report concluding that repressions in Belarus may constitute crimes against humanity;
- Donald Trump returned to Facebook and wrote his first post after being unbanned;
- Border guards exposed a man who had married, forged documents, and offered a bribe to leave Ukraine.