Ousted Ukrainian defence minister refuses any other role in Zelenskyy’s government – as it happened

Mykhailo Fedorov says only in his former post could he ‘combat procurement corruption and complete the army’s transformation’ Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains under pressure to restore ousted defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, after he told reporters he would not accept any other role in the government – despite alternatives put forward by the president (14:01). “No other role carries the actual authority to ‌combat procurement corruption, complete the ​army’s transformation, plan and execute asymmetric operations ⁠against the enemy,” ​Fedorov, whose dismissal ​last ​week rare ​wartime ‌street ​protests, ​said in a statement sent to reporters and quoted by Reuters. Fedorov’s supporters vowed to continue rare wartime street protests until he gets restored to his original position as defence minister. And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today. The EU has adopted its 21st package of sanctions against Russia, delayed by Greece pushing for a controversial concession on LNG exports (9:37), making Russia “the most sanctioned country in the world” (17:56). European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the s