Ukraine claims Bakhmut gains, top court chief detained

| May 17, 2023

Ukrainian troops have made gains around Bakhmut in recent days but Russian forces have advanced slightly in the eastern city itself, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar says.

She said the Ukrainian military had reclaimed about 20 square km of territory from the Russian forces in the past few days around Bakhmut, a small city where fighting has been fierce for months.

Maliar, who has indicated previously that the Ukrainian advances around Bakhmut are not part of a broader counteroffensive planned by Ukraine, said developments there “should not be taken out of context”.

“For example, within a few days, our troops liberated about 20 square kilometres from the enemy in the north and south of the suburbs of Bakhmut,” she wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 

“At the same time, the enemy is advancing somewhat in Bakhmut itself, completely destroying the city with artillery.”

She reiterated that Russia was sending in new paratroopers and added: “Heavy battles continue with different results.”

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield situation.

The Ukrainian military said last week it had started to push Russian forces back around Bakhmut after months of heavy fighting and Russia acknowledged that its forces had fallen back north of the city.

It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy returned home from a whirlwind European tour to seek more military aid while a Chinese envoy is preparing to visit Ukraine and Russia as part of a push for a peace plan Chinese officials in released in February. 

The Chinese foreign ministry said Li Hui, a former ambassador to Russia, also will visit Poland, France and Germany.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy had agreed to receive a mission from African leaders on a potential peace plan for the conflict.

Russia considers Bakhmut, a city of about 70,000 before Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly 15 months ago, as a stepping stone towards capturing the rest of the eastern Donbas region.

The head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court was dismissed from his post on Tuesday after being detained in a bribery investigation which anti-corruption authorities cast as their biggest-ever case.

Ukraine has redoubled efforts to clamp down on corruption despite Russia’s invasion, and doing so is vital to meet the conditions for joining the European Union.

Oleksandr Omelchenko, a prosecutor at the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), said the Supreme Court’s top judge had been detained as part of a suspected bribery scheme and was awaiting a formal “notice of suspicion”.

Omelchenko did not identify the judge by name but the court had been led until now by Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniaziev, who could not immediately be reached for comment.

“At this time, the head of the Supreme Court has been detained and measures are being taken to check other individuals for involvement in criminal activity,” Omelchenko told a joint briefing with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

An emergency Supreme Court plenary meeting hours later voted no-confidence in Kniaziev and then voted for his dismissal as head of the court. 

Another judicial body would be responsible for stripping him of his status as a judge.

NABU had announced on Monday that anti-corruption agencies were investigating large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court system and shared a photograph of piles of US dollars neatly lined up on a sofa.

In a statement, NABU said the Supreme Court head was suspected of taking a $US2.7 million ($A4.1 million) bribe. 

The agency’s chief, Semen Kryvonos, told Tuesday’s briefing it was the most high-profile case involving Ukrainian agencies fighting corruption.

“We are showing through real cases, real deeds, what our priority is: it’s top corruption, it’s criminal organisations at the highest levels of power,” he said.

Kryvonos said the bribe was paid for ruling in favour of the Finance and Credit financial group, owned by prominent businessman Konstiantyn Zhevago, and may be part of a broader scheme to pressure the court. 

Zhevago has denied wrongdoing.

with AP