Politics | Sep 9th 2023 Edition

Volodymyr Zelensky sacked Oleksii Reznikov as Ukraine’s defence minister. The president said the defence ministry needed a new approach, not least in tackling the corruption that has plagued military contracts (Mr Reznikov is not implicated in any of the allegations). Rustem Umerov was named as the new minister. As head of the State Property Fund Mr Umerov has a record of rooting out graft. He is also a Tatar from Crimea. Meanwhile Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, went to Kyiv to offer more American support to Ukraine.