Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sacked one of his top Ukrainian military commanders, but has not said why.

Eduard Moskalyov has been serving as commander of the joint forces of Ukraine, which are engaged in fierce battles in the Donbas region in the east.

The Ukrainian leader announced the move in a one-line decree on the website of the President of Ukraine.

President Zelenskyy had mentioned Mr Moskalyov just a few days ago in a daily address on Friday when listing the military commanders he had spoken to.

Mr Moskalyov had been in the post since March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The move comes as Ukraine’s army in Bakhmut in the east continue to weather relentless attacks from Kremlin forces as Russia seeks to finally take control of the battle-scarred city.

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Away from the front line, air raid sirens blared in the capital Kyiv and other cities overnight, and a Russian missile strike killed one person in the Western town of Khmelnytskyi.

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In occupied Ukraine, more than a dozen “unexplained explosions” have been observed around the city of Mariupol, according to UK intelligence.

The Ministry of Defence said blast locations have included two fuel depots and a steel works that Russia uses as a military base.

“Russia will likely be concerned that unexplained explosions are occurring in a zone it had probably previously assessed as beyond the range of routine Ukrainian strike capabilities,” the ministry said.

Sky News recently reported on how Russia is bulldozing large parts of Mariupol and rebuilding the city in its image.

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Meanwhile, the US and its NATO allies are scrambling to dissuade China from providing military aid for Moscow’s war, making public comments on their belief that Beijing is considering providing lethal equipment possibly including drones.

Western fears of China helping to arm Russia come as Moscow’s forces struggle to make gains around key objectives in eastern Ukraine, and as Kyiv prepares a counteroffensive with advanced Western weapons, including battle tanks.

“Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance – but if it goes down that road it will come at real costs to China,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN.

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