++ Ukraine war in the news blog ++ Ukrainian chief judge arrested in the millions

Day 446 since the beginning of the war: violent explosions from anti-aircraft missiles have roused the residents of the Ukrainian capital from their sleep. All information in the news blog.

6.10 a.m.: In Ukraine, anti-corruption fighters have uncovered millions of dollars in bribes paid to the Supreme Court. The court president Vsevolod Knyasyev was arrested while receiving 2.76 million US dollars, the Internet newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda reported late Monday evening.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has published a photo of a wad of banknotes on a couch. Ukrainian media also report raids by the highest judiciary on other judges.

According to the NABU and the special prosecutor’s office, they have uncovered “large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court, in particular a plan to obtain unjustified advantages from the leadership and the judges of the Supreme Court,” said the statement from both authorities. However, it was not clear from the reports who should have bribed whom and why.

Knyasiev, now 43, was appointed chairman of the Supreme Court in October 2021. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly promised a more determined fight against the culture of bribery in the country.

3.10 a.m.: According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, explosions can still be heard in Kiev. The rescue workers have been deployed, Mayor Vitali Klitschko writes on his Telegram channel. Debris fell on the city’s zoo in Shevchenkivskyi district.

In another entry, Klitschko reports that falling debris set fire to several cars in the Solomjanskyj district. Further information about the extent of the damage and possible victims is initially not available.

2.31 a.m.: According to official sources, the Ukrainian capital Kiev is again the target of Russian air attacks. “The anti-aircraft defense is capturing the targets,” writes the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Andriy Yermak, on Telegram, without giving any further details.

Representatives of the Kiev military administration also explain to the news service that the air defense systems repelled attacks on the capital. Reuters witnesses in Kiev report multiple explosions that sound like the destruction of flying objects.

1.43 a.m.: According to the US Department of Defense, 31 Abrams training tanks have arrived at the military training area in Grafenwoehr, Bavaria. “I can confirm that the 31 M1 Abrams training tanks have arrived in Grafenwoehr, Germany,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in Washington on Monday. Ukrainian forces are expected in Grafenwoehr “in the coming weeks” and will begin training on the tanks. The point is to train the Ukrainian tank crews both in the use of the Abrams tank and in its maintenance and thus prepare them comprehensively for their use in the Russian war of aggression.

At the end of April, US Chief of Staff Mark Milley said at a meeting of the Ukraine contact group at the US air force base in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, that the US would first deliver training tanks that were not fit for combat. The Abrams tanks intended for the battlefield were still being repaired. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US has accelerated deliveries to allow more armored equipment to be made available to Ukraine in the coming months.

10:16 p.m.: Russia and the Black Sea republic of Georgia are resuming direct air traffic for the first time since 2019, despite their tensions and warnings from the West. On Monday, Azimuth Airlines became the first Russian airline to receive permission for daily direct flights from Moscow to the Georgian capital Tbilisi. According to the airline’s booking system, flights are available from this Friday as of Monday evening. The Georgian aviation authority announced that Azimuth was not subject to sanctions and could therefore head for the South Caucasus republic.