Day 146 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Zelensky Removes more Employees from the Security Services, his Wife Visits Washington

Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska (right) and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left)

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Zelensky fires another 28 employees of the Security Service of Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he will dismiss 28 more employees of the Security Service of Ukraine, whose head was fired on Sunday evening.

In his evening address, Zelensky said that it was about employees at different levels who, in his words, performed unsatisfactory work.

On Sunday, when, in addition to the head of the secret services, the chief prosecutor Irina Venediktova was released, the president argued with the fact that their employees remained in territories occupied by Russia.

And this, according to the authorities in Kyiv, is treason. The president's office adds that the discovery of Russian spies in the ranks of the Ukrainian state services continues.

According to analysts, the real reason for the removal of the Prosecutor General and the Secret Service is Zelensky's desire to strengthen his control over the two organizations.

"We are conducting an internal check in the ranks of the Security Services of Ukraine. The release of 28 more employees at various levels is being considered. The reasons are similar - unsatisfactory performance of the work. Otherwise - our armed forces managed to inflict significant defeats on the occupiers. More and more it is difficult for the Russian army to hold its positions in the conquered territories. Step by step, we are making progress. Soon the Ukrainian flag will fly everywhere again," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Russia fines Google nearly $390 million over the war in Ukraine

A Russian court today fined Google 21.8 billion rubles ($387 million) for repeatedly failing to comply with orders to remove content that Moscow considers illegal, the Interfax agency reported, cited by Reuters.

Russia has long opposed foreign tech platforms distributing content that violates its restrictions, but the simmering dispute has turned into a real battle since Moscow massed troops on the Ukrainian border to begin its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Late last year, Google was fined 7.2 billion rubles for failing to remove or block prohibited content. The bank account of its Russian branch was frozen, forcing it to declare bankruptcy and making it impossible to pay salaries to staff and distributors.

Google, which may challenge the ruling, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter.

Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor said in June that Alphabet's YouTube video platform deliberately spread false information about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and allowed the upload of content promoting extremist views and calls for children to participate in illegal protests.

"The YouTube video platform is deliberately promoting the dissemination of misleading information about the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine, discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation," Roskomnadzor said.

Russia says it is carrying out a "special military operation" in Ukraine to eliminate a threat to its security and protect the Russian-speaking population in its neighbor from persecution.

Ukraine and its Western allies reject these accusations as a baseless pretext for an invasion aimed at conquering territories.

 

Olena Zelenska in Washington. The first lady organizes support for Ukraine across the ocean

Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska arrived in Washington on her first trip abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky crossed the Ocean at the invitation of the first lady of the United States, Jill Biden.

“Passenger planes fly calmly, people are not afraid of sirens and loud noises outside. Strange feeling: in the fifth month of the Russian invasion, to be in a country where all this is possible. But now I am here in the USA precisely for this, to make it possible in Ukraine. I'm here at the invitation of First Lady Jill Biden. She visited Ukraine in May to personally see and communicate with those who lost their homes and loved ones due to the war. Now it is my turn to speak in the US about Ukrainian needs in our resistance and fight against the aggressor.

I have already met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. His position that, I quote, ‘sovereign, independent Ukraine will exist much longer than Putin’ remains unchanged,” wrote Zelenska, who herself reflected on her visit to the United States on her Facebook profile.

Later in the day, Olena Zelenska visited the memorial to the victims of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine in downtown Washington.

"Tens, hundreds, thousands of ears of wheat - 90 years ago the life of our ancestors depended on them. Wheat can save lives, and it can cost lives." Zelenska wrote and added: "Visiting this place that resonates so much with our tragic present, in which Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine once again, I received a real ray of light - a meeting with the Ukrainian community in the United States. These are people who, thousands of kilometers from their homeland, remember who they are, who know the language, who in the first ranks, on a voluntary basis, reacted to the Russian attack and rushed to help their homeland and their compatriots. To paraphrase the famous proverb: when the ears are together in a sheaf, they cannot be cut or broken. So, they won't break us either."

The wife of the Ukrainian president also met with Samantha Power from USAID, with whom she talked about a topic that has become Zelenska's cause - mental health care for those in need in Ukraine during the war and after its end. Power is the same one who in 2014, as the US representative at the UN, turned to his Russian counterpart Vitliy Churkin after the annexation of Crimea, saying: "A thief can steal someone's property, but that does not give him the right to own that property."

Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, announced that on July 20, Olena Zelenska will address the US Congress.

Three children remain are now without a mother - the victims in Vinnytsia became 25

The death toll from Russian rocket fire in the center of the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia has risen to 25.

Neurologist Nataliya Falshtinska died today in the hospital in the city, Serhiy Borzov, the head of the regional state administration in Vinnytsia, announced on Facebook.

"Today, Nataliya Falshtinska, a neurologist, died in the hospital. She was receiving patients at the clinic when the rocket flew in. Three children are left without a mother... Her eternal memory," the official said.

On July 14, the Russians hit civilian targets, including a medical center in the center of the city of Vinnytsia, which is far from the front line. There have been 24 victims to date, including four children. Nearly 90 people were injured.

“The prison is the best place that the crew that fired rockets at Vinnytsia can count on”. This was stated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in a video address after the terrorist attack.

According to the Air Force of Ukraine, the missiles were fired from a submarine in the Black Sea. Zelensky stressed that Russia had launched a treacherous strike on Vinnytsia just as a conference on Russian war crimes was being held in The Hague.

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