Russia and Ukraine trade air strikes as Zelensky takes another step against corruption

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired missiles into western Ukraine that killed an 8-year-old boy, local officials said, and drones that Russian officials blamed on the Ukrainian military targeted Moscow for a third. straight day But it was reported that it did not cause much damage.

Also Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the dismissal of all heads of regional recruitment centres, as part of his action. suppression of corruption Since the outbreak of Russia war In Ukraine for more than 17 months.

The missile that killed the boy hit a house in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of western Ukraine, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Polish borderAccording to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.

But Ukrainian air defenses thwarted Russia’s daylight attack on Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Local authorities said debris from the intercepted missiles fell on residential areas of the city, including the buildings of a children’s hospital, without causing any casualties.

Falling missile and drone debris in the past has killed people on the ground and damaged buildings in Kyiv.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a drone crashed in western Moscow after it was stopped by Russian air defense systems. He said no one was hurt.

Officials said the drone went down on the Karamyshevskaya embankment, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Moscow’s business district, which was hit twice in previous drone incidents.

Reports of drones in the area disrupted flights at two Russian airports. Flights later resumed at Vnukovo Airport, one of the busiest in Moscow and at Kaluga Airport, southwest of the city. He was Third day in a row Vnukovo Airport has suspended flights due to drone attacks.

In Kiev, Zelensky announced the dismissal of the heads of recruitment centers across the Ukrainian regions. The move was taken after the security services of Ukraine provided details of 112 criminal cases against officials of the draft board suspected of taking bribes and engaging in corrupt practices.

Zelensky said in a Telegram post that the jobs should instead go to veterans, including the injured.

Zelensky has previously fired senior officials suspected of corruption. which has Send a signal to Western allies Giving Kiev tens of billions of dollars in serious military aid in clamping down on graft, which has long plagued the country’s military.

A long-running corruption case in Ukraine’s draft system exploded into the open last June when a media investigation into Odessa Regional Project Commissioner Evgen Borisov was published, sparking a scandal.

The investigation reported multimillion-dollar real estate and luxury cars allegedly owned by members of the Borisov family in Spain. Borisov denied any wrongdoing, saying he had nothing to do with what his family bought.

After this report, the Ukrainian State Investigative Bureau and its Security Service detained dozens of conscription board employees suspected of bribery and corruption.

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Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.

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Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine on https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine