Zelensky replaces several generals in Ukraine's National Guard

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a decree dismissing several high-ranking National Guard officers.

The highest-ranking officer to go was the first deputy chief of the National Guard, Lieutenant General Volodymyr Kondratyuk, according to the presidential decree.

Three other deputies were also affected, Lieutenant General Olexandr Nabok and the two Major Generals Oleh Sakhon and Mykola Mykolenka.

With the exception of Sakhon, all of the generals had been in office before the war.

The reasons for the reshuffle in the leadership of the National Guard is not yet known. A few months ago, Zelensky replaced the head of the organization and appointed Olexandr Pivnenko, an officer with combat experience, to head it.

The National Guard is a paramilitary organization that reports to the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior and is responsible for border security and the protection of internal security. However, since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, the National Guard has also been fighting on the front line.

Zelensky also said on Friday that he wants to release soldiers from the army at the end of their compulsory military service, despite the continued Russian war against Ukraine.

Zelensky said that serious issues of mobilization, demobilization and rotation were addressed at the general staff meeting.

Secretary for the National Council for Security and Defence Olexiy Danilov said the president had asked the military leadership to demobilize these soldiers.

A concrete plan is to be presented next week.

Russian air defences have downed 13 Ukrainian drones over the Crimean Peninsula, the Defence Ministry in Moscow reported on Friday.

A further three drones had been shot down over Volgograd in southern Russia to the east of Ukraine, the ministry said.

Russia has in the past reported the successful interception of drones, but reports of damage still appear later.

A fire broke out in a transformer unit in south-eastern Moscow, with the reasons for the blaze initially unclear. A video published on the internet showed a cloud of dark smoke.

The previous night there was a fire near another electrical installation, with social networks speculating that it could have been caused by a drone attack.