MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the head of the Sumy military administration, Volodymyr Artyukh, in a decision backed by the Ukrainian government, Ukrainian broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, Artyukh basically confirmed holding a military awards ceremony in Sumy ahead of the April 13 Russian strike but said that he was not the ceremony’s organizer, the broadcaster reported.

On Sunday, Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a site of a meeting of Ukraine’s Seversk tactical and operational command’s leadership in Sumy. Earlier on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the strike killed over 60 Ukrainian servicemen. The Kiev regime continues to use civilians as a «living shield» by placing military facilities in heavily populated cities, the ministry added.