Ukraine dismisses defence minister over Crimea crisis

Ukraine’s parliament sacked its besieged defence minister yesterday after his forces began a humiliating withdrawal from Crimea without firing a shot against Russian forces who claimed the Black Sea peninsula.

Crimea’s effective loss — though recognised by no Western power — has dealt a heavy psychological blow to many Ukrainians who have already spent the past years mired in corruption and economic malaise.

Ukraine’s ground commanders in Crimea had complained bitterly of confusion among the top brass in Kiev since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision on March 1 to seek the right to use force against his neighbour in response to last month’s fall in Kiev of a pro-Kremlin regime.

Some 228 deputies in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada parliament supported Igor Tenyukh’s dismissal after the acting defence minister tendered his resignation in an emotional address broadcast live to the nation of 46m people.

Tenyukh admitted that 14,500 of Ukraine’s 18,800 soldiers in Crimea had informed their superiors they would prefer to remain on the peninsula as part of Russia’s military.

Deputies then voted to appoint Lieutenant General Mykhailo Koval as acting defence minister. Koval had made the news earlier this month when he was briefly abducted by pro-Kremlin militias near his military base in the Crimean port of Yalta.

Yesterday’s session gave politicians a chance to voice growing frustrations with how the Western-backed leaders have handled their jobs since coming to power on the back of three months of deadly protests.

“We gave up Crimea to the Russians thanks to our unprofessionalism,” fumed independent politician Igor Palytsya.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine seemed ready to spike further when Russian television aired what it claimed was a tape of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko urging the “wiping out” of Russians over the seizure of Crimea.

Tymoshenko admitted her voice was on the tape but insisted her comments had been manipulated.

A summit of the G7 industrialised countries agreed on Monday to deepen Moscow’s isolation over the crisis and meet on their own — without Russia — in Brussels instead of gathering in Sochi in June.

The EU on March 5 offered to extend its own assistance package of up to $15bn to Ukraine while Washington has pledged $1bn in loan guarantees. Japan pitched in another $1.5bn to the Ukraine rescue fund yesterday.