INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
strengthen our soldiers, give Ukraine more international support and more weapons," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address
without elaborating.Zelensky said this week he wanted talks on Ukraine's membership in the EU to begin this year, stepping up the fight
against corruption.A senior lawmaker close to Zelensky said later Sunday that 56-year-old Reznikov, one of the best-known faces of the
country's war effort, would be replaced."Kyrylo Budanov will head the defense ministry, which is absolutely logical in wartime," said
lawmaker David Arakhamia, referring to the 37-year-old chief of military intelligence.Holding the rank of major general, Budanov has headed
Arakhamia."War dictates personnel policies
Time and circumstances require reinforcement and regrouping," he added."The enemy is preparing to advance
We are preparing to defend ourselves."Reznikov was appointed defense minister in November 2021 and has helped secure Western weapons to
buttress Ukrainian forces
But his ministry has been beset by corruption scandals.Reznikov's deputy was forced to resign in late January after the ministry was
accused of signing food contracts at prices two to three times higher than current rates for basic foodstuffs.Speaking to reporters earlier
Sunday, Reznikov did not say if he planned to stay on at the ministry, but that only President Zelensky could decide his fate."The stress
that I have endured this year is hard to measure precisely
I am not ashamed of anything," Reznikov said
"My conscience is absolutely clear."An internal audit of procurement procedures was underway at the defense ministry, he said.He added that
the ministry's own anti-corruption department had "failed" to do its job and needed to be "completely rebooted."With graft a key European
concern, Ukraine's government has stepped up work to clean up its act, launching high-profile raids this week targeting an oligarch with
political connections, and a former interior minister.Speaking to reporters, Reznikov also urged the West to send warplanes, after Germany
and the United States finally agreed to supply heavy tanks following weeks of deliberations."I am sure that we will win this war," Reznikov
frontline hotspot Bakhmut
Russia has claimed gains in recent days around the war-ravaged city in the region of Donetsk."In the northern quarters of Artemovsk, fierce
battles are going on for every street, every house, every stairwell," the head of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in
a statement, referring to Bakhmut by its previous name."The Ukrainian armed forces are fighting to the last," he said.Russian forces have
been trying to capture Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk for months, in what has become the longest and bloodiest battle since Russia
invaded Ukraine last February.In Bakhmut Sunday, about 20 people, including two soldiers, attended a mass in the basement of the
dozen candles and a portable light used by the two priests to read from the bible."Today I prayed that everything will be better for me
after I die," said 20-year-old Serafim Chernyshov, standing outside the church."I came to pray for peace," added Lyubov Avramenko,
84.Zelensky said on Friday that Kyiv's troops would fight for Bakhmut "as long as we can."The British defense ministry said Sunday that
targeted Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, including the energy grid, leaving millions in the dark and cold in the middle of winter.In
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, a missile strike on a residential building Sunday wounded four people, a local official said
Another strike that hit a university wounded a security guard.Around 280,000 households in the southern city of Odesa were still without
power following Saturday's accident at an electrical substation, already damaged by Russian strikes, said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.As
a result, schools will be closed in the city on Monday and Tuesday, officials said.
