TOP HEADLINES

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Vadym Prystaiko as Ukraine's ambassador to Britain on Friday, days after the envoy publicly criticized the president. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday that its Black Sea Fleet had practised firing rockets at surface targets in a live fire exercise, two days after it warned that ships heading to Ukraine's Black Sea ports could be considered military targets.

• Russian missiles hit grain terminals of an agricultural enterprise in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, injuring two people, the regional governor said on Friday. The missile destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley.

• Ukraine's central bank said it will nationalize Russian-owned Sense Bank, one of the country's top commercial banks, and put it under temporary administration on Friday.

• The Kremlin said on Friday that what it called Ukraine's "unpredictable" actions posed a danger to civilian shipping in the Black Sea, and accused Kyiv of carrying out "terrorist attacks" in the area.

• Poland's security committee decided in a meeting on Wednesday to move military units to the country's east due to the Wagner Group's presence in Belarus, state-run news agency PAP quoted its secretary as saying on Friday.

IN DEPTH

Zelenskyy sacks Ukraine's ambassador to Britain

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Vadym Prystaiko as Ukraine's ambassador to Britain on Friday, days after the envoy publicly criticized the president.

A presidential order, which said Prystaiko had also been removed as Ukraine's representative to the International Maritime Organization, gave no reason for the dismissal.

In an interview with Sky News last week, Prystaiko was asked about remarks by outgoing British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace suggesting Kyiv should show more gratitude for weapons deliveries from its allies to fight Russian forces.

Zelenskiy responded by saying Ukraine was always grateful to Britain, a staunch ally. He was also quoted by British media as saying Wallace could let him know how to express his gratitude or how "we could get up in the morning and express our words of gratitude to the minister."

Asked whether Zelenskyy was being sarcastic, Prystaiko told Sky there was "a little bit of sarcasm" when the president "said that each and every morning he will wake up and call Ben Wallace to thank him."

"I don't believe that this sarcasm is healthy," he said, adding that the Russians "have to know that we're working together."

Zelenskyy's order did not say who would replace Prystaiko, 53, an experienced diplomat and former vice prime minister who had held the post as ambassador to Britain for three years.

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