Russia’s latest problem; Ukraine’s new top commander.

Good evening, I'm Marcin Jemikows and you're watching World News Tonight, live from Warsaw. Ukraine's army has a new commander-in-chief. President Volodymyr Zelensky has decided to replace the unpopular Oleksandr Syrskiy with Mikhail Drapaty after mass protests calling for change erupted all over the war-torn country. We'll have more on that in a moment, but first, here are tonight's headlines. Number of hate crimes against Ukrainians in Poland rises. EU searches for agreement on 21st sanctions package. And the Polish government announces major railway modernization efforts. Oleksandr Syrskiy has been replaced by Mikhail Drapaty as Ukraine's new commander-in-chief. But protesters who pushed this decision on President Zelensky also demand that the ousted defence minister, Mikhail Fedorov, is reinstated to office. We're going now live to our correspondent in Kyiv, Oskar Terji. Good evening, Oskar. So, is Fedorov coming back? And how can this whole situation unfold, since he has already challenged the president by rejecting his office of government posts? Well, let's take our minds back to exactly a week ago when President Zelensky announced this reshuffle, including firing Mikhail Fedorov as defence minister, something that I'm sure the Zelensky administration were not expecting such a public backlash from that decision. Starting on that Thursday, the day afterwards, protests began outside President Zelensky's office and in other cities across the country demanding the return of Mikhail Fedorov. Those protests eventually started also demanding the sacking of Oleksandr Syrskiy. So, the first demand was always the return of Mikhail Fedorov. Now, move forward to last night, President Zelensky announces the dismissal of Oleksandr Syrskiy, Mikhail Djapaty announced as his replacement. So, that's something that the protest organisers were happy for. It's something that they had called for. But it's not the end of the story here in Ukraine, with no announcement yet made on the future of Mikhail Fedorov. President Zelensky has offered Fedorov an alternative position in the administration, one that is not directly in charge of the defence ministry. That's something that Fedorov has rejected. It seems the protesters are still on Fedorov's side. Dmitry Kosyansky, one of the protest organisers, the main protest organiser, has called for renewed protests on Friday, should President Zelensky not restore Mikhail Fedorov to his position in the defence ministry. So, that is something to keep an eye on, because this standoff is not yet over, and protests now organised for Friday, right outside President Zelensky's office, again, to keep up the pressure to try and get this Fedorov situation sorted. So, we do not know where this is going to end with regards to those. With regards to the new incoming Commander-in-Chief, Mikhail Djapaty, something that has been, he was quite a popular choice among the protesters. They have been chanting his name at one of the protests I attended. So, that's gone down well with him. He's even received congratulations from Mikhail Fedorov. But who is this man? For more on that, Anastasia Yanchenko has more. Comrade Major, look at those barricades over there. What do we do? I say, Dima, hit the gas. In 2014, he was the first to break through the Russian barricades in the city of Mariupol, 12 years later, Mikhail Djapaty's name has risen towards the top of Ukrainian politics, as he stepped into the role of Ukraine's new army chief, in what might be a breath of fresh air for Ukraine's military. The President of Ukraine has set us clear tasks, to continue and intensify offensive operations across all domains, to plan new operations in the enemy's rear, to develop the military and the technology within it, and to build up the capabilities of the armed forces of Ukraine. The 43-year-old Major General previously commanded Ukraine's joint forces in the north-eastern direction, preferring to keep a low public profile. He's described by Ukrainian soldiers as an effective and strong leader, and one of the most experienced commanders the country has. It's very important that he has come up through every level of military command. He started the war as a battalion commander. It means he understands the war in all its aspects. The list of his accomplishments speaks for itself. In 2014, he led a breakthrough of 200 soldiers and dozens of pieces of equipment out of Russian encirclement under relentless shelling in the Luhansk region. During the full-scale war, he halted Russian advances on Kharkiv, Krivoy Rih and Dnipro, and helped lead the liberation of Kherson. He has earned a reputation as something of a firefighter general. He is usually sent to exactly those locations, exactly those zones where the biggest problems of a catastrophic nature have emerged. The 43-year-old Drapaty replaces Oleksandr Sirsky, the 60-year-old career officer, who was behind some of Ukraine's biggest defensive battlefield successes. But his command style was considered a relic of the Soviet era, putting pressure from the top on regular soldiers and holding ground no matter the human cost, earning him the nickname The Butcher. I think as it is in Ukraine, as a victory for the future over the past, as a decision to back a more progressive approach to the war. Ukrainians welcomed Drapaty's appointment as more than half of the public supported Sirsky's dismissal. The recently ousted Popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, whose unexpected dismissal triggered an internal crisis in Ukraine, gave his support to Drapaty, just as Drapaty had backed Fedorov and his modern vision for the Ukrainian army. This is a breath of fresh air and a new source of hope in the fight of free people for freedom and justice. It is the voice of change that could no longer be ignored. Starting Wednesday, Drapaty will work closely with the current Defense Minister Yevgeny Khmara. However, whether the latter will remain in power is still unknown, as protesters still want to see Fedorov standing next to Drapaty for TVP World. And the latest from Brussels. The European Union is yet to reach an agreement on the 21st package of sanctions targeting Russia. EU ambassadors will meet tomorrow morning with the aim of finding an agreement on the package. The EU ambassador's additional round of talks have not succeeded in getting all member states to agree upon placing another set of sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Greece and Austria were the two main voices of dissent, with Athens arguing that it would not support a continuation of a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas, while Vienna vetoed the package over the inclusion of the Austrian bike Raiffeisen, currently the largest Western banking firm operating in Russia. The package, initially proposed in June, also targets Russia's crypto networks, as well as drone production, oil traders and its shadow fleet in the Black Sea. Ten violent incidents against Ukrainians in Poland last weekend alone. The numbers are growing rapidly as tensions over historical disputes erupt, as hateful behavior spreads from the internet into the real world. Our chief Poland correspondent Kazimierz Wysiak reports on the surge of anti-Ukrainian occurrences. From slurs and hateful comments for simply speaking their own language. You support Bandera? Bandera? I'll record you and show it to my colleagues at work. To actual violence and vandalism. Ukrainians living in Poland are facing more and more hostility. The Polish police recorded 10 violent incidents on Ukrainian citizens in the past weekend alone, and experts say these behaviors often begin with hateful posts online. A surge of negative emotion towards a group of people or organizations, so one they are just picking up and it's just going viral. It has the potential to go viral, it has the potential to go outside the internet space. These cases are happening more frequently ever since Kyiv and Warsaw clashed diplomatically in May over World War II era mass killings of Polish civilians. But while the two allied countries are negotiating a path forward. I held a meeting on our policy toward Poland. The priorities are clear. All of us in Europe need good neighborly, equal and mutually beneficial relations built on respect. With satisfaction and hope I accept the words and decisions of President Zelensky regarding the relations between our states, which must be based on mutual respect and truth. There is one actor determined to add fuel to the fire. Russia. These Polish soldiers criticizing Ukrainians have recently popped all over the internet, but they're not real. The Naskh Institute has revealed they're AI-generated. This information is feeding on emotion. It's one of the most important factors that keep people going. And while Polish right-wing politicians are adding to these tensions. Emboldened Vladimir Putin is an existential threat for Poland. The same level of threat that is the glorification of the UPA in Ukraine. Former Polish Prime Minister Jan Bielecki told TVP World in an exclusive interview, Kyiv also needs to realize that the public perception of Ukraine is shifting across the Moral support almost unlimited is vanishing. Despite the recent surge of violent incidents, Poland remains the temporary home for close to a million Ukrainians. And not all Poles give in to these negative emotions. People living in Ukraine aren't responsible for what happened so many years ago. So I definitely think there are quite a few people who are against hateful incidents. For TVP World, I'm Kazimierz Wysiak. Fidesz, Hungary's former ruling party, is facing mounting legal pressure after the former head of the country's counter-terrorism center, an Orbán-era appointee, faces accusations of unlawful detention of Ukrainian bank officials transporting some 80 million euros from Austria. Our correspondent Andrew Sweeney has the details. In his first press conference since losing April's general elections, former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán unveiled the new parliamentary leader of the Fidesz party, János Boka. Hungary has ceased to be a democratic state. Fidesz will use all peaceful tools against abusive power inside parliament and outside parliament. But after Fidesz's landslide loss to Peter Magyar's TISA party, it's Fidesz and its former officials that have found themselves under investigation for abuses of power during its 16 years rule. János Hajdu, the head of Hungary's counter-terrorism center under Orbán, is being investigated for unlawfully detaining employees of Ukraine's Oshad bank. They were seized while transporting 80 million euros in cash and gold from Austria to Ukraine last March as part of a cash rebalancing transfer. Orbán claimed, without evidence, that the cash was intended for his political opponents. Hungarian media outlet 444 has obtained the testimonies of the Oshad bank employees. The group's leader, Hennadi Kuznetsov, alleges he and his group were severely mistreated, and that Hungarian security officers physically assaulted the detainees while in custody, that at least one detainee was injected with unknown substances and deprived of access to and that they were accused of attempting to support revolution in Hungary by transferring the cash and gold to the TISA party. Multiple state offices were involved in two days, the tax and customs office, the national security service, the national intelligence service. But that's not all. The country's chief prosecutor, Gábor Válland-Nagy, has also resigned. Appointed by the previous Fidesz government, Nagy said he was leaving his post due to being subjected to personal attacks. The prosecutor general has just resigned. With this, the country is free of yet another Orbán puppet who is obstructing the political transformation. Police and tax investigators yesterday raided a Fidesz IT facility in connection to a 40 million euro embezzlement case. Magyar's political transformation of Hungary to remove the last vestiges of Fidesz authority, backed by the super majority required to change the constitution, appears unstoppable. Unbelievable how quickly such a visibly robust structure turned to be a house of cards. And as for Orbán, who remains Fidesz's leader, he's refused another challenge from Magyar to take part in a live debate. For TVP World, Andrew Sweeney. From the border with Germany to the border with Ukraine, not from the Montana south to the Baltic coast, both in three hours. These are the plans for the modernization of Poland's railways announced today by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The government would like to see trains become the most popular mode of transport by the end of 2050. Julia Gdula has this report. 350 kilometers per hour. That's the top speed of the new trains planned under the Polish government's integrated rail network program, a project set to transform rail travel across the country. We are building the most modern rail network in Europe and there is no exaggeration in saying so. After constructing just about 50 kilometers of new railway tracks since 1989, Poland is planning its biggest rail expansion in decades. 4,700 kilometers of new railway lines and the modernization of the 5,600 kilometers which already connect major Polish cities with smaller towns. Poland in 100 minutes means that all major urban agglomerations will be connected within a 100-minute journey. And Poland in three hours means that it will be possible to travel across the country from east to west or from north to south in a maximum of three hours. Travel times from Warsaw to Poland's major cities are set to decrease drastically. To Krakow by around one and a half hours and to Gdańsk and Poznan by about 50 minutes. To the passenger transport it is obvious that people would like and would love to travel in safe, on-time trains, even especially long-distance trains. The government's goal is making rail the most utilized mode of transport in Poland, aiming to ultimately increase the number of yearly passengers to 800 million by 2050. The comfort keeps improving, the trains are clean and well maintained and I think we should definitely continue in this direction. The more rail connections there are, the better it is for local communities. We are heading in the right direction and that's a good thing. The first indication of whether passengers' expectation will be met is due in 2035, when the first 1,000 kilometers of new railway lines are expected to be completed. From accusations of harboring Nazi death squads to a personal trip to Kiev followed by apologies. Laura Loomer, a controversial far-right American influencer and close ally of President Donald Trump, has arrived in Ukraine and denies the Russian-fueled propaganda she used to share on social media. Kamil Różański has this report. Ukraine has made an unexpected ally on the information front against Russia. Laura Loomer, an American far-right activist, staunch Donald Trump supporter and Kiev's former foe, just made a U-turn on her previously verbose anti-Ukraine stance. I feel like such an a**hole for minimizing the struggle of Ukrainians for the last five years. There are people in Ukraine who have to run to a bomb shelter every day and some of us had the audacity to say Russia wasn't wrong because we believe the lie that Ukraine is a country full of Nazi sympathizers. We have been so propagandized by Russia and we don't even realize it. Loomer touched down in Kiev on Monday during a period of increased Russian attacks. Posting to her almost two million followers on X, she provided a window for those who stand against Ukraine to see what Moscow's war machine has done. On day one, I have already seen photos of dead priests in Bucha murdered by Russia. I spoke with officials who rescue POWs and they showed me photos of Ukrainian POWs who had swastikas engraved into their foreheads by Russians. I would love to meet in Moscow. Experts say Loomer's trip may have larger potential implications for the future of Washington D.C.'s position on Ukraine. Laura Loomer still is close to the president as I understand it. She's a powerful voice in that world and now she has recognized that the conservative movement has been a victim of Russian propaganda to a great degree. Since arriving in Kiev, Loomer has already retracted her claims that the U.S. was funding Nazi death squads in Ukraine, as well as her comments calling President Zelensky a jihadist apologist after he met with the new leader of Syria. And Loomer's change of heart was noted by Zelensky's office. It is really important that Laura Loomer is in Ukraine and sees things with her own eyes as they are. There is no better way to get informed opinion than through personal experience which allows to deal with Russian propaganda. And while there are still many caught in Moscow's web of lies, the Kremlin's influence is waning. For TVP World, I'm Kamil Ruzhansky. After long months of a diplomatic freeze, the U.S. Secretary of State and Russia's foreign minister are set to meet in Manila, Philippines, Thursday to talk about Ukraine. The wartime country itself undergoes a government reshuffle and chooses a new commander-in-chief amid ongoing protests against the dismissal of a popular defense minister. And to talk about it all, we're joined by Roland Freudenstein, co-founder of the Brussels Freedom Hub. Good evening. Good evening and great to talk to you again. Likewise. Now, let's begin by quoting Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. We proceed from the fact that, at least for now, our American colleagues have not rejected their proposals that were made and are now well known to everyone. Now, Lavrov also added that he will ask U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Donald Trump's words that an end to the war in Ukraine is closer than before. Now, meanwhile, Rubio says that while it is difficult to find a consensus on Ukraine, it doesn't mean both countries can't cooperate in other fields. So what do you make of it all? Well, as far as Lavrov is concerned, I think it's called whistling in the dark. He is obviously trying to get some positive aspect from the current stalemate, even between the U.S. and Russia. And, you know, I mean, there were days when Trump was repeating Putin's speaking points on a daily basis. That seems to be over. And somehow Lavrov and the Kremlin and Putin have to cope with that. It doesn't seem to have changed their fundamental positions and demands in the Ukraine war. But, of course, he's happy to talk to Rubio. Rubio, on the other hand, may be precisely expecting some way forward on other issues than Ukraine, such as the Iran war, such as other global conflict points, maybe also Cuba, Latin America in general. So there are things that Rubio and Lavrov can talk about. But on Ukraine itself, I would be surprised to see any fundamental progress or breakthrough there. Right, because it seems that the Russian position on Ukraine has stiffened and Western media repeat after the Russian propaganda that because of the U.S. rejecting an alleged agreement reached in Anchorage, Putin now won't withdraw his forces from some of the occupied territories once the war is over. Now, did you ever have an impression that Russia would give up some of its territorial gains in Ukraine just like that? No, no. I mean, I think what we were talking about behind closed doors in the West, so to speak, was either what the U.S. wanted Ukraine to do is to actually recognize Russian territorial gains. At some point, the U.S. were even trying to pressure Ukraine into withdrawing from areas that Russia hadn't conquered in the northern Donbass. And what Ukraine has said since about a year or two ago was that they could live with some areas, the ones that are currently occupied by Russia in Donbass, temporarily under Russian occupation and committing to not wanting to change that with military force anymore after a peace deal or at least a ceasefire deal. So that was the Ukrainian position. That was basically the European position all the time. So there is no question at the moment of Ukraine recognizing Russia's sovereignty over the areas it has conquered, but Russia continues to demand this and even more. Now, let's discuss Ukraine's internal problems. General Oleksandr Syrskiy has been replaced by General Mihailo Drabati as the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's army. Now, what does it tell you about the current state of the Ukrainian democracy? Because this clearly comes as a result of the mass protests demanding the dismissal of the already former commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskiy. Well, I think this is fantastic news today. It's above all a victory of Ukrainian democracy, not just civil society, but democracy in general, because, you know, Drabati instead of Syrskiy also means a move against the corrupt networks personified by former head of the presidential administration, Andrei Yermak. And Syrskiy maybe wasn't directly part of it, but he tolerated some of those corrupt maneuvers. And the other aspect, of course, is that this is a generational victory of what I would call the Maidan generation. You know, the people who entered into public life, who became politicized in the protests 12 years ago against Yanukovych and against a pro-Russian Ukrainian government. And again, I mean, both Fedorov and Drabati personify that generation, whereas Syrskiy was very much part of the generation from the 1990s that was still had some of their roots even in the Soviet era. So, I mean, this is on so many levels good news. Do you think that President Zelensky will give in to the demand of returning the ousted defense minister to his previous post, or is Fedorov's recent popularity already a threat to President Zelensky's position? Good question. Will Fedorov replace Zaluzhny as the kind of potential competitor of Zelensky for president? I'm skeptical there. I mean, first of all, you know, it will be very difficult for Zelensky to completely reverse the dismissal of Fedorov. He, I think, you know, Fedorov had not only clashed with Syrskiy, he had also clashed with generals. He was pretty undiplomatic, to put it diplomatically, in fighting against these old networks. And, you know, Zelensky has to balance between different power centers in Ukrainian politics. So, I'm not sure he will completely reverse that. But he has said that he will offer a powerful post where Fedorov can nevertheless influence military campaigns and continue pushing for technological and tactical innovation in the Ukrainian armed forces together with Mikhail Terapaty. So, I think if Fedorov accepts that powerful post, whatever it's going to be, I think that's already a victory, another victory for civil society. He doesn't have to be reinstated as defense minister, but who knows. Now, meanwhile, General Syrskiy, upon his departure, claimed that he's leaving an army moving from defensive to offensive. I mean, how would you interpret these words? Do you see Ukraine attempting to take back what it has already lost to Russia? Well, that would be the optimal outcome, right? But I think the Ukrainian calculus at the moment is more to endanger the Kremlin rule in Russia itself, to put Putin in front of a choice of either taking back his military aggression against Ukraine or risking his own rule in Russia. Because that's where the Ukrainian offensive is most successful now. It strikes into the Russian heartland, is making daily life harder for Russians, normal citizens with gasoline, inflation and all this, whereas reconquering Russian occupied territory still seems pretty difficult on a strategic level, on a tactical level, on a small scale. It has already happened and I think this will hopefully continue. Roland Freudenstein, co-founder of the Brussels Freedom Hub, was our guest this evening. Thank you very much. Pleasure as always. Thank you. And thank you for watching and stay with us for more interviews and news here on TVP World.