Zelenskiy says staff of sacked officials have been "working against" Ukraine Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy followed up on decrees in which he removed the State Security Service head and his Prosecutor General. Reuters reports: Zelenskiy said that more than 60 of their employees were working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territory. He added that 651 criminal proceedings had been registered relating to high treason and collaboration by employees of prosecutor’s offices, pretrial investigation bodies and other law enforcement agencies. “In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine remained in the occupied territory and are working against our state,” he said. He said that such crimes raised “very serious questions” for the relevant leaders, and added, “Each of these questions will receive a proper answer.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Baku on Monday to seek more natural gas from Azerbaijan, the EU’s executive said, as the EU seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian energy. The Commission said: Amid Russia’s continued weaponisation of its energy supplies, diversification of our energy imports is a priority for the EU. President von der Leyen and (Energy) Commissioner Kadri Simson will be tomorrow in Azerbaijan to further strengthen the cooperation.” According to a draft document seen by Reuters on 14 July, the Commission has proposed to EU countries a deal with Azerbaijan to increase imports of natural gas and support the expansion of a pipeline to do this. EU governments have already agreed a gradual oil embargo on Russia. Russia has used more than three thousand cruise missiles against Ukraine, according to its president. In his latest national address, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: As of 7pm today, Russia has already used more than three thousand cruise missiles against Ukraine. It is impossible to count the number of artillery and other projectiles that were used against our country and our people. But it is definitely possible to bring all Russian war criminals to justice. Each of the collaborators. All those responsible for terror. For everything that happens during 144 days and in more than eight years. It will be done.” Russian police have detained journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live TV broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, her lawyer has said. No official statement has been made, but her entourage posted a message on the journalist’s Telegram account on Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse. Marina has been detained. There is no information on where she is.” The message included three photos of her being led by two police officers to a white van, after apparently having been stopped while cycling. Her lawyer, Dmitri Zakhvatov, confirmed her arrest to the Ria-Novosti news agency, saying he did not know where Ovsyannikova had been taken. “I assume that it is linked one way or another to her act of protest,” he added. In March Ovsyannikova, an editor at Channel One television, barged onto the set of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news programme, holding a poster reading ‘No War’ in English. On Friday, Ovsyannikova posted photos of herself on Telegram showing her near the Kremlin and carrying a protest placard raising the deaths of children and denouncing Putin as a “killer”. It"s 1am in Kyiv. Here"s where things stand: Soldiers from Russia’s Republic of Buryatia have faced threats from their commanders after they refused to be deployed to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to the outlet, soldiers said that deserters are taken to a military command post where there are detained in a garage for 3-4 four days. They are they taken to a detention center near the Russian-occupied territory of Luhansk. A Russian attack on the Bakhmut district in the Donetsk obalst has injured six people, including 3 children, the Kyiv Independent reports. On Sunday, Russian forces shelled the city of Soledar and the Yahidne village, according to the Donetsk oblast prosecutor’s office. The three injured children have shrapnel wounds, the office said. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy followed up on decrees in which he removed the State Security Service head and his Prosecutor General. Zelenskiy said that more than 60 of their employees were working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territory. Russian occupation authorities are planning to deport residents of Ukraine’s occupied south, according to the Association for the Reintegration of Crimea. The association reports, “Any action that will be considered by the occupiers as a ‘violation’ will entail “forced expulsion from the territory of the Kherson region.” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued an executive order dismissing the head of state security service and proesecutor general, according to the presidential office website. The Vinnytsia concert hall Officer’s House struck by Russian forces will not be completely demolished, only damaged structures will be dismantled, said regional authorities. In a Telegram post, Vinnytsia regional governor Serhiy Borzov said, “We are not talking about the demolition of the entire facility, but about the dismantling of emergency structures where it is dangerous.” 1,346 civilians have been found dead in the Kyiv oblast after the retreat of Russian forces, according to the region’s police chief. In a new Kyiv Independent report, Andriy Nebytov is cited saying that about 300 individuals are still missing, adding that 700 of those killed were shot with small arms such as a handgun. The head of Britain’s armed forces has dismissed as “wishful thinking” speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is suffering from ill-health or could be assassinated. “I think some of the comments that he’s not well or that actually surely somebody’s going to assassinate him or take him out, I think they’re wishful thinking,” the chief of the defence staff said of Putin, in a BBC television interview broadcast on Sunday. That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleague Samantha Lock in Australia who will bring you the latest updates. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you. Soldiers from Russia’s Republic of Buryatia have faced threats from their commanders after they refused to be deployed to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to the outlet, soldiers said that deserters are taken to a military command post where there are detained in a garage for 3-4 four days. They are they taken to a detention center near the Russian-occupied territory of Luhansk. One soldier told the Russian media outlet Mediazona that around 77 Buryatia refused to be sent to Ukraine. A Russian attack on the Bakhmut district in the Donetsk obalst has injured six people, including 3 children, the Kyiv Independent reports. On Sunday, Russian forces shelled the city of Soledar and the Yahidne village, according to the Donetsk oblast prosecutor’s office. The three injured children have shrapnel wounds, the office said. Zelenskiy says staff of sacked officials have been "working against" Ukraine Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy followed up on decrees in which he removed the State Security Service head and his Prosecutor General. Reuters reports: Zelenskiy said that more than 60 of their employees were working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territory. He added that 651 criminal proceedings had been registered relating to high treason and collaboration by employees of prosecutor’s offices, pretrial investigation bodies and other law enforcement agencies. “In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine remained in the occupied territory and are working against our state,” he said. He said that such crimes raised “very serious questions” for the relevant leaders, and added, “Each of these questions will receive a proper answer.” Russian occupation authorities are planning to deport residents of Ukraine’s occupied south, according to the Association for the Reintegration of Crimea. The association reports, “Any action that will be considered by the occupiers as a ‘violation’ will entail “forced expulsion from the territory of the Kherson region.” It went on to add, “It is stated that the criminal ‘decision’ about this will be approved by the ‘military commandant’, with the execution of the ‘expulsion’ within 24 hours. A similar criminal ‘decree’ was announced by the occupiers in Melitopol.” The association said that such evictions from the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhia will mean deportations to Russia through Crimea and Mariupol where residents will be used as “labor force and ‘cannon fodder’ to Crimea and Russia. President Zelenskiy dismisses head of state security service and prosecutor general - report Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued an executive order dismissing the head of state security service and proesecutor general, according to the presidential office website. The orders dismissing domestic security chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of Zelenskiy, and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who leads the effort to prosecute Russian war crimes in Ukraine, were published on the president’s official website. Another decree has appointed deputy prosecutor general Oleksii Symonenko as acting prosecutor general. According to Euromaidan, Bakanov was fired under Article 47 of the Disciplinary Statute of Ukraine’s Armed Forces which states, “Non-performance (improper performance) of official duties, which resulted in human casualties or other serious consequences or created a threat of such consequences.” The Vinnytsia concert hall Officer’s House struck by Russian forces will not be completely demolished, only damaged structures will be dismantled, said regional authorities. In a Telegram post, Vinnytsia regional governor Serhiy Borzov said, “After being hit by a missile, the building is in a state of emergency,” referring to the midday attack on Thursday that left at least 23 people dead and scores more hospitalized. “After examination by specialists, a decision was made to dismantle the debris. We are not talking about the demolition of the entire facility, but about the dismantling of emergency structures where it is dangerous,” he added. “The Officer’s House survived the Second World War. It endured this one too - it has already become a symbol of Vinnytsia’s resilience.”