Ukraine withdrew and left its territory to Russia. The war was at a crucial stage, and the pressure of Moscow’s troops was increasing also in the Zaporizhzhia region, where the front line heated up due to attacks by the invaders. For one day, it wasn’t just Pokrovsk that made the headlines in the daily bulletin.
Ukrainian soldiers withdrew from five villages in Zaporizhzhia Oblast after heavy fighting with Russian troops. The order to withdraw was given after the “de facto destruction of all shelters and fortifications”, according to a report by the Southern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, following intense artillery shelling. Russian penetration of this front has previously been reported and the Moscow army has claimed the conquest of several locations.
“Our main focus at the moment is the Pokrovsk direction and the Zaporizhzhia regionwhere Russia is increasing the number and scale of attacks,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his usual evening message. “The situation there remains difficult, partly because weather conditions favor attacks. “But we continue to crush the invaders, and I thank every one of our units, every fighter involved in defending Ukrainian positions,” he added.
The situation near Kupiansk was described as slightly more favorable for the Kiev forces. “Our troops have achieved results there, and this is the pattern that has occurred in recent weeks,” the president said based on information provided by the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Corruption case
Zelensky also has to face the impact of the corruption investigation. Ukrainian investigators accused a key ally of the president of masterminding a $100 million bribery scheme, about 86 million euros at current exchange rates. Timur Mindich allegedly “decided to unlawfully enrich himself by organizing criminal acts in various sectors of the Ukrainian economy”, a prosecutor from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) told the court.
On Monday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced that it had uncovered a corruption scheme in the energy sector, with funds laundering as much as $100 million.
In July, Zelensky, with the support of Ukraine’s parliament, attempted to reduce the independence of Nabu and Sapo with a law that would have brought the bodies back under the control of the president’s office. The move has sparked a series of public protests in several Ukrainian cities and harsh criticism from the European Union, forcing the Ukrainian leadership to take a step back. According to the Kyiv Independent, which cited law enforcement sources, NABU’s investigation into Mindich “was one of the factors leading to the authorities’ efforts to eliminate his independence.”
On Monday, NABU carried out searches in Kiev at locations linked to Mindich, Ukrainian newspapers note, citing the same source, according to whom Mindich had fled before the search. The anti-corruption bureau’s investigation focused on major corruption schemes in the energy sector, including Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company, Energoatom: a source from the Kyiv Independent confirmed that similar cases were also reported by NABU.
