By leaving the protective bubble of the capital, Volodymyr Zelensky reaffirms his authority as a warlord. This Sunday, he traveled to Kharkiv, in the northeast of the country, just 40 km from the Russian border. This is the first time since the start of the war that the Ukrainian president has gone to the front, so far from kyiv. After the visit to the city, Volodymyr Zelensky made a resounding statement, and also unprecedented: he announced that he had dismissed the head of Kharkiv’s security services, because he “did not work for the defense of the city” from the beginning of the Russian invasion.
“I came, I saw, and I dismissed the head of the security services of the region, because he had not worked in the defense of the city since the first days of this war, but only thought that ‘to himself,’ President Zelensky explained in his daily video message.
“It’s new in form and substance, analyzes political scientist Patrick Martin-Genier on BFMTV. Either it was someone who is not up to the task or his morale was at an all-time low. The hypothesis of complacency with the Russian forces, or of a temptation to approach them, is not excluded either. “He wants people who are perfectly loyal at a time when there is a stalemate militarily. »
This dismissal could also send another message, believes Patrick Martin-Genier: “The time is not for negotiations, but for war. Zelensky wants guns. In Brussels, a meeting of EU officials was scheduled for Sunday to discuss a solution to implement the EU’s sixth sanctions package against Russia, blocked by Hungary. The Ukrainian president is expected to address European leaders on Monday to address the issue of the proposed embargo on Russian oil, at the start of a summit on the subject.