Ukraine-Russia news – live: Senior officials face jail as Zelensky purges ranks over corruption scandal

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has announced personnel changes are being carried out at senior and lower levels, following the most high-profile graft allegations since Russia’s invasion that threaten to dampen Western enthusiasm for the Kyiv government.

Reports of a fresh scandal in Ukraine, which has a long history of shaky governance, come as European countries bicker over giving Kyiv German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

“There are already personnel decisions – some today, some tomorrow – regarding officials at various levels in ministries and other central government structures, as well as in the regions and in law enforcement,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Monday.

Mr Zelensky, who did not identify the officials to be replaced, said his plans included toughening oversight on travelling abroad for official assignments.

Several Ukrainian media outlets have reported that cabinet ministers and senior officials could be sacked imminently.

This comes after anti-corruption police on Sunday said they had detained the deputy infrastructure minister on suspicion of receiving a $400,000 kickback over the import of generators last September, an allegation the minister denies.

A newspaper investigation accused the defence ministry of overpaying suppliers for soldiers’ food. The supplier has said it made a technical mistake and no money had changed hands.

Security for Boris Johnson’s surprise visit to Ukraine at the weekend was funded by taxpayers, Downing Street has said.

The former prime minister, facing fresh questions over his personal finances, said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky had invited him to travel to Kyiv once again.

No 10 said Rishi Sunak was “supportive” of Mr Johnson’s trip, after warnings from military figures that the former PM should not be “looking for publicity” and could undermine the PM’s authority.

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has more:

Vladimir Putin is turning away from his reliance on the Wagner group of mercenaries to fight in Ukraine, according to military observers.

In its latest update on the Ukraine conflict, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the Russian president likely intends to rely on conventional Russian forces after recently appointing a new overall commander in General Valeriy Gerasimov.

Mr Putin may have felt threatened by Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s ambition in Moscow politics and his claims of his mercenaries’ importance to the Russian campaign, the ISW said.

The Kremlin was put in an uncomfortable position earlier this month when Mr Prigozhin claimed his fighters taken the Ukrainian town of Soledar several days before Russia officially made the same claim.

Ukraine has imposed sanctions on 22 Russians associated with the Russian Orthodox Church for what president Volodymyr Zelensky said was their support of genocide under the cloak of religion.

According to a decree issued by the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, the list includes Mikhail Gundayev, who represents the Russian Orthodox Church in the World Council of Churches and other international organisations in Geneva.

Russian state media reported that Mr Gundayev is a nephew of the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. Ukraine sanctioned Mr Kirill last year.

The sanctions are the latest in a series of steps Ukraine has taken against the Russian Orthodox Church, which has backed president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine which is now entering its 12th month.

“Sanctions have been imposed against 22 Russian citizens who, under the guise of spirituality, support terror and genocidal policy,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address late on Monday.

He said the punitive measures said that they would strengthen the country’s “spiritual independence”.

A top ally of president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv would “actively” jail corrupt officials, as it adopts a zero-tolerance approach to corruption amid high-profile graft allegations.

The unnamed official’s comments, reported by Reuters, come as Mr Zelensky is carrying out a sweeping personnel change amid reports that cabinet ministers and senior officials could be sacked imminently.

David Arakhamia, head of Mr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, said it had been made clear since Russia’s invasion on 24 February 2022 that officials should “focus on the war, help victims, cut bureaucracy and stop dubious business”.

“Many of them got the message. But many of them did not unfortunately. We’re definitely going to be jailing actively this spring. If the humane approach doesn’t work, we’ll do it in line with martial law.”

Turkey’s president cast serious doubt on NATO’s expansion Monday after warning Sweden not to expect support for its bid for membership into the military alliance following weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Rasmus Paludan’s Quran-burning protest on Saturday, saying it was an insult to everyone, especially to Muslims. He was particularly incensed at Swedish authorities for allowing the demonstration to take place outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm under “the protection” of security forces.

“It is clear that those who allowed such vileness to take place in front of our embassy can no longer expect any charity from us regarding their NATO membership application,” Erdogan said in his first comments regarding the weekend protests, saying Sweden must have calculated the consequences of permitting Paludan’s demonstration.

The burning of Islam’s holy book angered people across the political spectrum in Turkey, just as Sweden and Finland appeared on the cusp of NATO membership after dropping their longstanding policies of military nonalignment following Russia’s war on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin now stands to benefit as the potential enlargement of the world’s most powerful military alliance appears to be stymied.

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A former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official who investigated Russian oligarchs has been indicted on charges he secretly worked for one, in violation of U.S. sanctions. The official was also charged, in a separate indictment, with taking cash from a former foreign security officer.

Charles McGonigal, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York from 2016 to 2018, is accused in an indictment unsealed Monday of working with a former Soviet diplomat-turned-Russian interpreter on behalf of Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire they purportedly referred to in code as “the big guy” and “the client.”

McGonigal, who had supervised and participated in investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Deripaska, worked to have Deripaska’s sanctions lifted in 2019 and took money from him in 2021 to investigate a rival oligarch, the Justice Department said.

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Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell has stated that Germany is not blocking the export of the German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

Berlin is facing increasing pressure to supply these tanks to Ukraine.

“It seems Germany’s not going to ban the exporting of these weapons, if some EU member states who have them want to send them”, Borrell told a news conference on Monday.

The EU has approved a €500 million support package for Ukraine, bringing the total amount of military support to $3.9 billion according to Borrell.

He also remarked that the bloc’s support to Ukraine now rests at $53 billion, including military, financial, economic and humanitarian aid.

The Latvian Prime Minister has reiterated his support for Ukraine, urging that Russia can only be stopped if the West supplies weapons.

On Monday, the EU approved €500 million of military aid for Ukraine. However, the pressure is still on for Berlin to supply German-made Leopard tanks.

“If Ukraine does not win then everyone has a huge problem because there is no indication that Russia will stop or would be interested in stopping”, Krisjanis Karins told Sky News.

“We have to help Ukraine stop Russia and that can only be done with the supplying of weapons.”

It was “quite important” that Germany was “fully on board” with other EU countries on supplying the German-made Leopard tanks, Karins added.

The EU has launched a civilian mission to monitor the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a region viewed by the Kremlin as Russia’s backyard.

The initiative was requested by Armenia, extending a 40-strong mission that was deployed for two months in 2022.

The new mission has a two-year mandate and is set to conduct “routine patrolling and report on the situation”, an EU statement confirmed.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over control of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, a victory which Armenia won. 30,000 people were killed.

Armenia has accused Russian soldiers of failing to prevent fighting and stopping Azerbaijanis blockading the only route to Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region in 2021 after a conflict which killed 6500 people.