Zelensky fires Sumy governor amid scrutiny over military award ceremony on day of Russian strike
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Volodymyr Artyukh, the head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, according to the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.
Artyukh’s dismissal comes two days after Russian forces launched two Iskander-M missiles at central Sumy, killing at least 35 civilians, including two children. The day after the attack, Artyukh said that a ceremony to honor Ukrainian soldiers had been planned for the same day. “I had no involvement in this. I was invited,” he stated.
Following the attack, information about the planned military award ceremony was spread by Ukrainian politicians. Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of Konotop in the Sumy region, said that law enforcement had launched an investigation to identify who organized the event.
On Monday afternoon, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the strike had targeted a meeting of the command staff of a Ukrainian operational-tactical group, resulting in the deaths of over 60 Ukrainian soldiers.
