Kharkiv Security Chief fired for not working to defend the city

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he fired Kharkiv's security chief in a rare public rebuke. The northeastern city is key to the country, and Russian forces targeted it in the first phase of the invasion. It was bombed two days before the full-scale invasion started.

Zelensky said the security officer was dismissed for "not working to defend the city from the first days of the full-scale war, but thinking only of himself". He noted that the others worked "very effectively" but the chief did not. The President did not name the officer, reported AFP.

Ukrainian media has identified the officer as Roman Dudin, the head of the Kharkiv region's SBU security service.

The leader made the announcement when he visited the Donbas region on Sunday for the first time since Moscow's attack started. His office had earlier shared a video via Telegram in which the President was seen wearing a bullet-proof vest while viewing destroyed buildings in Kharkiv.

He said the occupiers are trying to squeeze some result out of Ukraine, but they should have understood long ago that Ukrainians will defend the land to the last man. One-third of the Kharkiv region remains under Russia's control, and the President said the entire area will be liberated.

Much of Ukraine has been suffering since the Russian invasion started on February 24. Zelensky is determined to speak to European Union leaders in Brussels via video. The Western leaders are meeting to talk about the oil business with Russia.

While Russia has managed to cause harm in several parts of Ukraine and besiege many important towns, they failed to capture the capital Kyiv in the early stages of the war. Moscow has since then retreated to the Kharkiv area and moved on to the eastern Donbas region.

Russia on Saturday said it has captured the town of Lyman and is moving on to the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.